Picking Up the Pieces
by M306117
Summary: Though the arrival of the UNSC heralds an end to the war that has left Equestria a ruin, life for those left behind will never be the same as new resentments, old foes, and dark secrets threaten an already precarious peace.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: ****I don't own My Little Pony or Halo. They belong to Hasbro and Bungie/Microsoft/343 Industries respectively.**

Chapter One

**1800 HOURS, APRIL 17, 2553 (MILITARY CALENDAR/LOCAL TIME) \ SLEIPNIR SYSTEM, PLANET FAUSTIA \ CITY OF VANHOOVER, GREATER VANHOOVER HOSPITAL**

The hospital was quiet, warm, calm, and the bedding was nice and soft, everything anypony would need to drift off to sleep without much trouble but despite it all, Twilight Sparkle just couldn't make herself fall into a slumber her body so desperately craved.

It wasn't for lack of trying. She'd been more or less awake continuously for the last three days, catching maybe a few hours sleep here and there, only to be brought back to the land of wakefulness by a nightmare, a harsh reliving.

She sighed, in weariness and in frustration, and rolled over for the umpteenth time that day, hoping against hope that this time she'd fall asleep and not be plagued by horrific visions.

But the moment Twilight closed her eyes and began to drift off, the memory of seeing Spike lying dead in a griffin cell, surrounded by dozens more corpses, flashed into her mind's eye with unnerving clarity and she awoke with a jolt, heart hammering away in her chest.

It was one of the many nightmares she had, some of the others including the assaults on Ponyville, three attacks that had killed off most of the town's population and left it a desolated ruin, to being captured by the Innies as she wandered through the Everfree Forest on Fluttershy and Big Macintosh's wedding day, and the follow up crash landing Twilight had endured that had snapped her horn clean off.

She absently ran a hoof up to the little stump that remained, feeling the jagged edges, lamenting its loss.

Twilight whimpered and drew her bedcovers closer, trying to block the thoughts out, but failed, seeing the inside of a Pelican as fire and shrapnel swept over everything and everypony inside, feeling the heat prickle her skin as a sensation of weightlessness tugged at her stomach, the alien flying machine nose diving, and then darkness.

The pony had awoken a short while later to a splitting headache and a solemn faced doctor, explaining in a quiet voice that her horn had snapped off and he didn't know if it would ever grow back, or what kind of magic could be performed should it actually re-grow.

For a pony that had been born a unicorn, and whose cutie mark was magic, the news had been devastating to say the least.

Tears crept up on Twilight and she wiped them away with her hoof, craning her head around at the sound of voices outside her room.

She recognised her brother's voice, and the Chief's, plus a doctor that had been treating her, and could see faint shadows through the blinds on her windows, noting there was a fourth pony present as well.

The voices carried on for a few moments more before the door opened, and Twilight saw the Spartan and Shining Armour watching her, the Chief waving slightly.

Twilight nodded back but focused her attention on an earth coloured Pegasus that had opened the door and taken a few hesitant steps inside, a notebook and pencil tucked beneath his wings.

He closed the door behind him but stayed near it, a red blush creeping across his face as his eyes looked at anything but Twilight directly.

'Hello?' she said. 'Who are you?'

The stallion's jaw made minute movements but his lips stayed clamped together and no meaningful noise was made, only slight murmurs that could have easily been mistaken for the far off hiss of a respirator.

'Can you speak?' Twilight said, getting a rapid nod by way of an answer, followed by a shake of the head. 'Well, which is it? Yes or no?'

The pony's blush increased and he pulled out his notebook, opening it up to a blank page, then began scribbling away, pencil clamped between his teeth so tightly, Twilight wondered if it would snap.

He finished then held the page up for Twilight to see.

_My name is Aegis, _it began. _I can talk but I stutter when I'm nervous, and when I'm really nervous I just can't speak at all._

'What are you nervous for?' Twilight asked after reading the passage. 'You're not being forced to be here, are you?'

_Oh, no, _Aegis wrote. _I volunteered to come in here. It's just, I get nervous when I'm around pretty mares. The prettier the mare, the worse it gets._

Twilight reread that a few times.

'You think I'm... pretty?' she said, looking at Aegis first and then a mirror.

Her coat was covered in bandages, scabs, scars, and long overdue a bath, while her mane was an unruly mess, stray strands of hair sticking up all over the place, and her eyes were bloodshot with bags underneath them. A far cry from what would have been considered pretty.

Aegis nodded rapidly, writing, _Yes._

He gave Twilight a little smile, too, just a slight movement at the corners of his mouth, combining with his blush to make him appear bashful.

She didn't know how to respond to that, so Twilight asked, 'What are you volunteering for?'

_To help you get better._

'By doing what, not talking?' Twilight said.

Aegis' smile went away and he looked down fractionally, as though embarrassed, and Twilight felt a small pang of guilt because of it.

'Sorry,' she said. 'It's been kind of stressful for me these past few months, what with losing my homes and most of my friends and family.'

_I know, _Aegis wrote. _And I know they won't mean much but, you have my condolences. I don't think I could even begin to imagine what it must feel like to lose somepony the way you have._

'Thanks, I guess,' Twilight muttered.

The stallion's expression went from embarrassed to hurt, and his head drooped down a fraction more, before writing, _Do you want to talk about it?_

Twilight read the words with disbelief before hissing, 'Talk about what? Some of the most painful things to ever happen to me, emotionally? Why would I want to talk about that?'

Aegis' ears splayed themselves against his head at the tongue lashing, taking a small step back, but he persevered and kept writing.

_It's just, I heard somewhere that talking about... what happened can be a way to come to terms with it. And I know I'm a bit of a chatterbox and can't stop talking, but, I could listen if you want, be a shoulder to cry on?_

He gave her a weak, hopeful smile, notebook clutched in his mouth, and both it and what he had written made Twilight laugh a little.

It was a little shrill, like it had been far too long since the princess had laughed, and Aegis' smile faded yet again.

'Oh, no, I'm not laughing at you,' Twilight said, noting the change. 'Well, I am but not like that.' She smiled. 'You just looked so funny holding the notebook like that. It was kind of... cute.'

Aegis' blush spread out like a wildfire, engulfing his cheeks fully and began spreading up and down from them, too, but his smile came back a little.

_You think I'm cute?_

'I look like this and you think I'm pretty,' Twilight said, gesturing at herself. 'The way you were holding the book and your little smile...'

She trailed off, her own smile growing a little.

Aegis smiled back and wrote some more.

_You could be wearing rags and I'd still think you were pretty. In fact, you were wearing rags the first time I saw you._

'Y-You've seen me before?' Twilight said haltingly. 'Where? And why was I wearing rags?'

_Canterlot, during Hearth's Warming Eve pageant. My parents and I came all the way from Baltimare to see it. From the moment you came on stage, I couldn't stop myself from looking at you, even if you weren't speaking. I thought you were beautiful._

Now it was Twilight's turn to blush a little, feeling her cheeks heat up after reading the last sentence.

It was certainly a step up from pretty.

'You thought I w-was...?' she stammered. 'Why?'

_Your eyes. I could lose myself in them._

'Oh,' Twilight whispered.

_I think you're beautiful, Twilight, and I don't like seeing you upset. That's why I want to help._

She read the words and looked at the expression Aegis had on, seeing it was earnest honesty.

_If you don't want me to, then I can leave. I'll do whatever you want. Yes or no, stay or go, whatever you want._

He closed the notebook and tucked it under one wing, slinging his pencil behind the opposite ear, and sat down on the floor, waiting.

'Aegis, I...' Twilight began to say but stopped.

It was painful to just think about what had happened, and even then it was only due to unwanted flashbacks while sleeping that Twilight thought about all the loss and destruction she'd seen and endured, so she guessed talking about it would be worse, far worse than she could imagine.

Besides, she didn't even know this pony.

He had just shown up and walked in, bold as brass, unable to say a single thing, and Twilight didn't know whether to believe his story or not. Anypony could have said what Aegis had written.

Did he have some ulterior motive? Was he plotting something and this whole act was just that, an act?

Aegis took out his notebook again and resumed writing.

_I know about Big Macintosh, _he wrote, catching Twilight off guard. _I know you want to be with him and that's fine with me. I mean, why would anypony want to have me as their special somepony? I can't talk or look directly at you, but I want to help you, Twilight. That's all I want to do. I don't want anything in return, no gifts, no reward. I just want to help._

_Just, please, Twilight. Say something. Anything._

She opened her mouth to speak but no sound came out and the Alicorn closed it again.

'You just want to help me?' Twilight finally whispered. 'That's it? You don't want money, or-or a gift?'

_No. I just want to see you get better._

The sincerity threw Twilight a little, Aegis acknowledging her longing for Big Mac and saying it was fine with him, as well as his not wanting of anything in return.

She fell silent again, gaze drifting back to her bedding, and Aegis' head drooped again, collecting his notebook back up and getting to his hooves.

He made a turn for the door but stopped when Twilight called out.

'Wait,' she said, hoof half reaching out to him. 'I- If-If you want-' She sighed. 'You'll listen to me?'

The pony nodded, pencil meeting paper again.

_For as long as you want, _he wrote. _If it gets too much, you can stop. I won't push, and I'll go as well, if you want._

'Provided I can get a word in edgewise,' Twilight said with a faint smile. 'You're pretty talkative, you know.'

Aegis smiled as well, nodding.

_I'll try to tone it down a bit. Just for you._

Twilight laughed a little, shuffling to one side of her bed to give Aegis some space, patting the vacant area with her hoof, but the Pegasus just stared at it as though petrified.

'What's wrong?' Twilight said. 'I thought you wanted to help.'

_You want me to sit next to you?! _Aegis wrote, underlining the word sit with a thick mark, as it making a point of the notion.

'Yeah?' Twilight said, now a little uncertain. 'It'd be weird me talking to you about... about everything that's happened with you all the way over there.'

She patted the spot again but Aegis remained locked in place.

'I want you to sit next to me, Aegis,' she said. 'Please.'

His jaw moved again while his lips remained sealed, and no noise issued forth from the stallion, but slowly, very slowly, Aegis crept forward and jumped up onto the bed, taking ever so tiny steps to perch himself level with Twilight but as far over onto the other side of the bed as possible, almost hanging off it.

'Are you usually this nervous around mares?' Twilight half said, half joked at how tightly Aegis was keeping his wings tucked up against his body. 'Or is it only around pretty ones?'

Aegis nodded, the motion almost causing him to fall off the bed, but he recovered. Barely.

Twilight giggled at his awkwardness, smiling, before letting both peter out, allowing silence to fall across the room again.

'So,' she said. 'You, uh, you want to hear about... everything that's happened, do you?'

Aegis nodded once, having left his pencil and paper on the floor.

He reached out with his hoof to touch Twilight's, giving her another nod to go ahead.

She smiled wanly at the gesture but it soon vanished as the Alicorn launched into her tale, starting with the diplomatic mission to the Griffin Kingdom that had gone horribly wrong.

Twilight ran through the whole thing, from the griffin guards barging into her room and knocking her out, to waking up to a locked cell in a dungeon, to her rescue by the Chief, only faltering in her monotone retelling upon reaching the part where she found out Spike was dead, killed hours previously, and then breaking out in tears during her recount of the escape, of how Spike's body had been obliterated by a fragmentation grenade.

Aegis remained quiet throughout, gazing at the mare with sympathy, his eyes locked onto hers as she spoke.

From the escape, Twilight went on to the return flight, to her argument with the Chief, but glossed over what happened with Big Macintosh upon crash landing at Sweet Apple Acres, and described the atmosphere that had pervaded the farmhouse after seeing Canterlot being destroyed by the Insurrectionists.

It had been her first home, where she had gone to magic school, an entire city of thousands, snuffed out in the blink of an eye, and while Twilight had been unconscious for that, she had been awake to see Ponyville's bombardment.

She fell quiet for a brief moment, recalling the missiles streaking down from high above and tearing through everything in their path, speaking about it to Aegis in a hushed whisper.

The rustic town had been her home, full of fond memories and friends, and now it was a ruin filled with hundreds of corpses, a ghost town.

Afterwards, there had been a period of peace barring a small incident between the Insurrectionists and Princess Celestia, the mention of her now dead mentor making Twilight cry, right up until the weddings and the attacks that had occurred not twenty minutes after the ceremonies were complete.

Again, she glossed over the wedding part, leaving out how she had tried to attack Big Macintosh and Fluttershy a few weeks earlier, but told Aegis of the Innies capturing her, stuffing her onto a Pelican, and then living through the crash at a cost of her horn.

She sensed rather than saw Aegis flutter his wings during that, likely trying to imagine his life without an appendage he'd had all his life, just faint disturbances in the air next to her own wings, and Twilight briefly wondered if she could still be called an Alicorn now, no longer having a horn but retaining her wings.

Pushing the thought away, Twilight carried on.

After the debacle that was the weddings, she had sunken further and further into depression, regularly distancing herself from everypony and closing herself off, even from her friends, much to the dismay of the doctors treating her.

It had culminated in another confrontation with the Spartan outside Ponyville, A196 holding a pistol to Twilight's head and threatening to shoot if she couldn't come up with a valid reason not to.

The whole thing had turned out to be a ruse but right then and there, staring up at the faceless human and the unwavering pistol held within her armoured hand, Twilight had felt a fear unlike anything else up to that point, and probably beyond it.

Aegis' expression became alarmed at the news.

'She really did,' Twilight said. 'The Chief told me if I didn't start making an effort with Doctor Stable or Ink Blot, she'd kill me. I believed her.'

Now it came to the most recent events, the attacks that had happened barely a week ago, the attacks that had obliterated Ponyville and killed most of the ponies there, her family and close friends included.

Twilight told Aegis of how a dozen Pelicans had come swooping in from the night's sky, bristling with weapons, and just lain waste to everything they could see and hit.

Ponies, both the young and old, the weak and injured, and everypony in between, were targets to be struck down with nowhere to go, no safe place to run to, no way of retaliating to the attack.

The only pony who might have done had been Celestia but she was the first casualty of the attack, torn apart by missile after missile until the ground was nothing but a blood stained crater, leaving the town and its inhabitants defenceless.

Twilight stopped, finding herself unable to go on, unable to describe the attacks that followed, or her reaction to finding out half her friends were dead, alongside her parents and Cadance, her old foal sitter.

True to his word, Aegis didn't push her to continue, letting her cry.

'They're gone,' Twilight sobbed, burying her head between her hooves. 'They're all gone and I- and I don't know- Why did it have to be them who died, Aegis? Why? Why?'

She let loose a mournful wail as the floodgates opened up, her pent up anguish and pain being released after so many months of being confined. It hurt, it hurt like the loss had only just happened and all at once.

All the ponies she had known, all the friends she had had, all the family members she had loved, gone. Nothing more than a memory.

Twilight kept crying, sensing no end to the tears, as Aegis remained silent beside her.

His wing eventually wrapped itself around Twilight, the only way he could give the princess any kind of embrace given their positions on the narrow bed, but she pushed herself into it anyway, pressing herself up against the stallion as he fought to stay on the bed, balancing precariously on the edge.

She didn't help matters any by wrapping her hoof around his chest, finally pushing Aegis off, falling with him as his wing stayed wrapped around her.

Aegis let out a yelp of surprise, the first noise Twilight had heard him make, followed by a hiss of pain as his skill connected with the unyielding floor, and she quickly disentangled herself from the Pegasus to check he was okay.

'Oh, gosh, Aegis,' she whispered, hoof reaching out to touch the spot of his head that had slammed into the floor. 'I'm so sorry, are you okay?'

He nodded, rubbing the sore spot, mouth turned down in a grimace.

The door to the room opened, a nurse popping his head to check on the source of the noise, but Twilight waved him off as Aegis sat up, still touching his head.

'You're not bleeding, are you?' Twilight asked.

She moved to examine where Aegis was rubbing, pushing his hoof away, but saw no sign of a gash or cut.

Aegis grabbed his notebook and scribbled down ow in big letters.

'Still can't talk, huh?' Twilight said, smiling despite the tears still falling from her eyes. She sniffed and wiped them away.

_It would seem not, _Aegis wrote, making Twilight laugh, less shrilly than before, in turn making Aegis smile at her.

_I like that noise. Sounds... cute._

'Does not,' Twilight responded.

_Does too._

Twilight opened her mouth to reply but she saw Aegis' hoof hover over the words, poised ready to tap it, and she laughed again upon realising what he was going to do.

'You were going to argue with me over it, weren't you?' she said, getting a sheepish grin back as an answer. 'Why?'

_I think your laugh is cute, _Aegis wrote. _That's all._

'That can't be it,' Twilight said. 'You have to have some other reason, Aegis.'

_No. I'm a very simple pony._

'Yes, you're a stallion of few words,' Twilight said with a smile.

Aegis smiled back at her before letting it fade away.

_I'm sorry to hear about everything that happened. You must have loved your friends and family very much._

Twilight felt her own smile wane, her earlier misery coming back, and she looked down at the ground between her hooves.

'I-I did, yes,' she murmured. 'They were my first real friends, the ones who helped me defeat Nightmare Moon and turn her back into Princess Luna. I loved them to bits.'

Aegis moved to sit next to Twilight, wrapping his wing around her once more, and the Alicorn princess rested her head against his shoulder as fresh tears began falling.

'And my family...'she whispered, taking in a juddering breath. 'They're all gone, Aegis. I'll never see them again.'

The stallion said nothing, wrapping his wing tighter around Twilight as she cried, staying locked like this for what felt like hours until the Alicorn's sobs grew quiet and her tears stopped.

She sniffed, eyes red raw and nose trailing snot in parallel lines, soaking in the silence.

There was still the faint and far off hiss of a respirator, the near invisible hum from the lights, and the slight sloshing of water as it travelled through the hospital's plumping, but very few noises coming from actual ponies.

'Aegis?' she whispered. 'Are you still awake?'

With her head to his shoulder, Twilight could just about sense his heartbeat, faint and regular, and could hear his breathing, shallow and soft, and wondered if Aegis had fallen asleep at some point over the past few hours.

He was still moving, a gentle rocking motion that moved her too, but other than that the stallion had been motionless.

Then she felt his head move, a slight up and down motion against her own head.

His notebook was out of reach, and Aegis was completely mute once more, though his hoof reached out again and touched Twilight's.

'Are you tired?' Twilight asked.

She was, feeling her eyelids growing heavy, but kept them open, hesitant to subject herself to more nightmares.

Aegis nodded his head again, slow and ponderous, and Twilight imagined him with his eyes either half lidded, or closed completely, using her head as a makeshift pillow and her body as a means of remaining upright.

His wing tightened up again briefly, drawing the princess closer, then relaxed as the stallion let out a soft breath, or maybe a stifled yawn.

'Do you want to go to... go to sleep?'

Aegis made a small unhappy noise and shook his head, though he let out another yawn.

Twilight felt herself briefly smile but it quickly disappeared, and she said, 'If you're tired, you can go, you know. You don't... you don't have to stay.'

She let out a yawn of her own, though unlike Aegis she didn't bother stifling it, letting it come in its entirety, feeling her eyes grow heavier until it was a struggle to keep them open and focused on the wall opposite.

They were almost closed when Twilight heard Aegis speak for the first time.

'I want to,' he rasped, voice low and croaky, like it hadn't been used for days, possibly weeks, and she felt it as it rumbled in his chest, a slight vibration travelling through his shoulder.

'So you can talk,' Twilight murmured. 'And I though you couldn't speak in front of pretty mares.'

He didn't answer.

Twilight fell silent herself for a brief moment before speaking again.

'Aegis, you're not- you're not doing this to try and win me over, are you?' she said. 'You're not staying with me, trying to win me over?'

He shook his head.

'I'm in love with Mac,' Twilight said. 'It's him I want to be with.'

'I know,' Aegis whispered. 'I just-'

He stopped, sighed, pulled Twilight closer.

'-want me to get better,' she finished for him, getting a nod in return. 'That's all you want.'

Aegis nodded again though not quite as confidently as before, almost as if it were only a half-truth. He sighed again and moved his head, as if to gently kiss the top of Twilight's, but stopped and looked at the floor instead, downcast.

'I'm sorry,' he murmured. 'You know, for your loss.

Twilight sighed deeply, more from fatigue than anything else, feeling her eyes start to close once more, and said, 'So am I.'

She sighed again, eyes now closed, and felt herself start to drift off to sleep, head resting against Aegis' shoulder as the two of them sat in the middle of Twilight's room.

It surprised her how peaceful she felt, how relaxed she had become, leaning up against a stallion only slightly heavier than her, and how tired she really was.

She jerked her eyes open again, locking them into place, and raised her head away from Aegis.

His wing uncurled itself from around her, slowly as though it didn't want to, and Aegis said, 'I can... I can go, if you want. Let you get some sleep.'

'No,' Twilight mumbled, using her hoof to rub one eye clear. She repeated the process on the other one, blinked heavily, then looked up Aegis properly for the first time in a while, surprised to see his eyes were red, too, like hers no doubt were. 'Have you been crying?'

Aegis nodded once, solemnly, and looked to his notebook, mouth clamped shut again.

He retrieved it and wrote, _I got upset listening to you. So much sadness and pain. How could I not cry?_

'Why are you writing again?' Twilight asked, confused as to why the stallion had gone back to written forms of communicating. 'You were speaking just now.'

_Your eyes, _Aegis wrote. _They're your best feature. I couldn't see them before. I look into them and I just see beauty._

His blush had come back again but it wasn't as strong as before, limiting itself to a faint hue instead of the deep crimson from earlier.

If anything, Aegis looked more san than embarrassed, both from listening to Twilight's tale and from something else.

She read what he had written again, about why he had cried and why he was once more a mute.

It was endearing to a degree, but at the same time it sounded like a love struck colt might have said in a cliché romance novel to woo the mare of his dreams, sappy and a little over the top.

But looking at the stallion as he sat beside her, Twilight didn't see much evidence to back up the theory.

He was blushing, yes, but seemingly only because of a timid nature around mares, and had actually spoken whilst Twilight was out of sight.

The things he had written may have only been part of a treatment plan by the doctor, a way of rebuilding her self esteem, though his comment about seeing her during the Hearth's Warming Eve pageant cast that into doubt in Twilight's mind.

'You... haven't been lying to me, have you?' she asked. 'Trying to make me feel better?'

Aegis shook his head.

_Everything I said, I meant, _he wrote. _Everything about you, everything I promised, all of it, that was all the truth. _

His expression was solemn, undermined by a half-lidded expression that relayed just how tired he was, without a hint of misdirection. He didn't look like he was lying.

Twilight yawned, long and deep, groaning once she was done and begrudgingly getting to her hooves, joints creaking in protest, taking a step towards her bed.

_I can go._

She looked at the message, thought about it, then shook her head lazily from side to side.

'No,' Twilight said. 'No, you can stay, Aegis. I actually felt okay, you know, talking about everything with you. And afterwards...'

She trailed off and gave him a small embarrassed smile, causing Aegis to blush slightly more.

'I felt okay,' she said. 'Not brilliant, but, better than I've felt in a while.'

Twilight looked from Aegis to her bed, thinking.

It had been a tight squeeze with the two of them just lying next to each other, not to mention precarious, and that had only been for ten minutes. A few hours would no doubt be worse so Twilight decided upon her next course of action, sticking her head out the door and calling for an orderly.

One arrived soon after, listened to Twilight's request, nodded the once, then disappeared again.

Aegis remained sat where he was, silently watching, only for his eyebrows to shoot up in alarm and surprise when the orderly returned with another mattress, him and another pony manoeuvring it into to room and leaving it on the floor, followed in short order by the mattress already present, and all the bedcovers and quilts.

Twilight thanked the two ponies who bowed and left, leaving her and Aegis alone again.

He quickly picked up his pencil and scribbled down a new message.

_?!_

'It'd be too uncomfortable on the bed, Aegis,' Twilight responded. 'I want you to stay with me tonight, keep me company, but the two of us wouldn't have fitted on there.'

She pointed to the now barren bed frame, and then to the two mattresses on the floor, taking up most of the available space.

_Keep you company?! _Aegis wrote. _As in, sleep with you?_

He had underline most, if not all, of what was written, especially the second sentence, but Twilight shook her head.

'Not sleep with me in that meaning,' she said. 'I meant, sleep next to me. Before, when I was leaning against you, I felt safe, and I wondered if we, you know, shared a bed, it might keep the nightmares away.'

She fell silent, watching Aegis as he was watching her, waiting for the stallion to make his mind up.

He wrote, _Are you sure? _

'Yes,' Twilight said. 'But if you're not comfortable with it, I won't make you stay. I want you to do this of your own free will.'

Aegis remained motionless, ears flat against his neck, then tentatively moved onto the two mattresses, lying down with similar speed, blush gaining strength once more.

Twilight smiled at him and said, 'Thanks,' before lying down beside the pony, smiling at his ramrod posture.

The Pegasus remained sitting upright, even as Twilight drew the duvet over them both, trying to get equal coverage for them both, then flinched as the Alicorn shifted closer to him, until their bodies were touching.

She expected his wing to move and cover her, an extra layer of warmth, but it stayed clamped to Aegis' side, twitching every now and then.

They brushed up against Twilight's own wings, the sensation of feather on feather tickling her slightly, but it soon faded into a background hum as weariness began overcoming the mare.

'Good night, Aegis,' Twilight murmured, lowing her head to the mattress. 'Thanks for listening. It was... Well, it felt better than I thought it would.'

The pony beside her said and did nothing, remaining a mute statue

Twilight didn't wait to see if he would eventually respond, letting her eyes close completely, and fell into a dreamless sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: ****I don't own My Little Pony or Halo. They belong to Hasbro and Bungie/Microsoft/343 Industries respectively.**

Chapter Two

**1058 HOURS, APRIL 18, 2553 (MILITARY CALENDAR/LOCAL TIME) \ SLEIPNIR SYSTEM, PLANET FAUSTIA \ CITY OF VANHOOVER, GREATER VANHOOVER HOSPITAL**

It was well past morning and getting close to lunch by the time Twilight awoke, simply opening her eyes slowly and blinking a few times rather than jerking awake, covered in a cold sweat, like she had done for the past few days.

She stretched out beneath the duvet, groaned softly, then fell limp again as the winter sun shone in through the windows, catching little motes of dust as they hung in the air.

Twilight watched one, tracking the speck as it lazily danced on a gentle breeze too soft for anypony to feel, and then craned her neck around to see Aegis, surprisingly, still lying beside her, a newspaper in front of him and the remains of breakfast off to one side.

'You stayed,' Twilight mumbled, making the Pegasus jump. She stretched out again, yawned, then shuffled closer to Aegis. 'How come?'

His mouth opened and closed, an improvement from yesterday when it had remained clamped shut, but still no noise came out.

He swallowed then managed to say, 'You asked me to.'

'How long was I asleep for?' Twilight asked, forcing herself into an upright position, rubbing sleep from her eye.

'Ten hours, I think,' Aegis said. 'You fell asleep pretty quickly last night. Guess you needed it.'

Twilight nodded absently, catching sight of a second breakfast tray on her side of the mattress, a bowl of oats and a lukewarm glass of apple juice on top of it.

'For you,' Aegis said. 'I had them leave a second tray when I had breakfast.'

'Did it taste good fresh?' the Alicorn said, eying the foodstuff dubiously.

Aegis shrugged. 'As well as hospital food can.'

Twilight grunted in dissatisfaction but pulled the tray closer as her stomach gave off a low rumble, signalling to her that it was in need of nourishment after three days of hit and miss snacking. She looked at the oats with no small amount of disdain but started eating them.

The oats tasted bland and the apple juice was too warm to feel at all refreshing, but it was nourishment and that was the important thing right now, and Twilight felt herself feel slightly better as she pushed the empty tray away.

She yawned again then stole a glance at the paper Aegis was reading, feeling no amount of surprise to see that the main article was on Ponyville's recent attack and abandonment with a large amount of print given over to detailing the loss of Celestia and Cadance.

Photos of the two held pride of place in the centre of the article, superimposed over a picture of Ponyville from before it had been attacked, and a more recent one that showed the town as it had done after the initial attack on it by the Insurrectionist ship that had been in orbit.

Twilight caught a glimpse of the Chief in the image, the Spartan conducting a patrol of the town at the time, but what drew her eye more was a line of covered bodies that awaited burial, most of them her friends.

She turned away as tears started to form, a sense of sadness rising up in her chest.

Aegis caught the motion and quickly closed the paper, pushing it out of Twilight's sight.

'Sorry,' he mumbled, not looking directly at her. 'I didn't think-'

He sighed quietly. 'Sorry.'

'It's... it's okay,' Twilight said, equally as quiet. She sniffed and wiped an errant tear away before saying, 'You're pretty talkative this morning, aren't you? Last night you barely said a word but today...'

'I think I'm getting used to being around you,' Aegis said in a low voice. 'It was mostly nerves at being so close to you but after last night, sharing a bed, I think I'm improving.'

Twilight nodded her head in agreement but remained quiet, and Aegis used this moment to speak.

'Do you... do you want to, you know, go out s-somewhere today?' he asked, his voice straining slightly as his stutter made a small comeback.

'You could barely talk to me yesterday and now you're asking me out on a date?' Twilight said, half jokingly, making Aegis' cheeks turn crimson and his ears flatten themselves against his head.

'N-Not a d-date,' he mumbled. 'I mean, g-go out somewh-where. The cafe, maybe, or the nearby p-park. You must be bored of sitting in here for so long.'

He glanced, briefly, at Twilight but looked away just as quickly, cheeks fully engulfed by a blush, suddenly finding something between his hooves very interesting.

It made the Alicorn smile a little but it didn't last and she said, 'I don't really want to go out anywhere, Aegis. I just don't feel like it anymore.'

She dropped her gaze to the spot between her own hooves too, absently scuffing the floor.

'It might help,' Aegis said gently, moving his hoof to lightly touch Twilight's. 'The doctors say having an active lifestyle can help make you feel better.'

Twilight gazed at her hoof and Aegis', noting the contrasting colours, but sighed and moved her hoof away slightly.

'I don't know, Aegis,' she said. 'Going out and doing stuff just doesn't sound like it'd help.'

'It's better than sitting in here and isolating yourself from everypony again,' he replied. 'That's what set you off on your first bout of depression, wasn't it? You closed everypony off and fell deeper and deeper into a rut. That's why the Chief held a gun to your head, right?'

Twilight nodded, recalling the incident with crystal clarity, but then shook her head.

'I'm sorry, Aegis. I just don't feel like going out.'

'Give it a try,' he said. 'Just for a little while. If you don't like being out and about, you can always come back here.'

Aegis tapped the floor of the room, producing a muffled thud, but Twilight remained immobile.

She caught a glimpse of the stallion's mouth closing, the corners turning down into a small grimace, and he quietly said, 'Would you- would you t-tell your friends to d-do this? Would you w-want to see them m-moping around all day in a stuffy r-room?'

Twilight didn't reply even though she knew what the answer was.

No, she wouldn't have wanted to see her friends acting like this, sitting by themselves in a room, cut off from the outside world. She would want to see them enjoying themselves, trying their best to cheer themselves up, doing whatever they could to avoid letting the past drag them down.

'Sorry,' Aegis mumbled as his grimaced increased. 'I didn't mean- The doctors, they said-' He swallowed. 'I didn't want to bring up your friends, use them as motivation, but the doctors said it might be the only way to, you know, get you out and about.'

'What makes you think I'm angry that you brought them up?' Twilight said as Aegis kept his head firmly turned away from hers, flinching when she placed her hoof next to his, like he had done to her before. 'Yes, they're a delicate matter to me but that doesn't mean I'll fly off the handle every time somepony mentions them.'

'Sorry,' Aegis said again.

'I know you are,' Twilight said.

She reached out with her hoof to try and ease Aegis' head back around, the Pegasus putting up some resistance but not enough to make the Alicorn strain, and she took her hoof away once his head was pointed in vaguely her direction.

'Sorry,' Aegis mumbled a third time. 'I just-'

His eyes flickered to Twilight's and he stopped talking, head inching closer to hers one moment and then jerking back two the next, breaking eye contact soon after.

'I know,' Twilight said.

'So, do you, if you want to, go out s-somewhere?' Aegis said.

She didn't particularly want to, but Twilight remembered what Aegis had said to her about her and her friends should their positions be reversed, echoing what the Chief had said back in White Tail Woods almost perfectly.

Maybe the Spartan had passed on what she had said to the princess to make her reconsider her death wish, and in turn the doctors had passed that along to Aegis with instructions to use it as a means of motivating her which, judging by his cringing and regretful expression, was something he considered a last ditch resort, hoping to avoid upsetting her.

Twilight forced a small smile onto her face and said, 'Sure. We can try going out.' She deliberately worded it like that to make Aegis blush before saying, 'But I don't know where we can go. Last time I went anywhere in public that wasn't Ponyville was Manehatten and I was swamped with journalists, all trying to ask me about the Innie attack.'

'How did you cope?' Aegis asked.

'Well, the Chief was with me and she scared most off with just a look,' Twilight said. 'The more persistent ones were pushed out of the way.'

'Do you think you'll be swamped like that again?'

Twilight's eyes drifted to the newspaper Aegis had hastily pushed out of sight, recalling the article detailing the attack and abandoning of Ponyville that had taken up the first seven pages, and guessed the number of ponies jostling to talk to her would be even greater.

'Worse,' she said. 'It'll be like a tidal wave of journalists and shouted questions the moment I step outside.'

'Oh,' Aegis said, contemplating the prospect of being overwhelmed by so many ponies and such a barrage of noise and light. 'So, I guess the park's out?'

'Probably,' Twilight said with a nod, catching sight of a human shadow passing by her room.

The Chief, most likely, doing a random patrol of the hospital and making sure everything was safe and secure. It might have been an Insurrectionist soldier but they were too short and not heavy enough to be the Spartan, nor were there the sounds of mass panic at having an armed intruder prowling the halls, so it was a safe bet that the shadow belonged to A196.

'We'd have the Chief following us, too,' Twilight added, gesturing at the shadow.

Aegis looked at it and his pupils shrank a little, his face making the Alicorn laugh which in turn caused a red tinge to mar the stallion's cheeks.

'She scares me,' he said. 'The Chief.'

'She scares me a little, too.'

Twilight remembered seeing the Spartan for the first time, seeing her walking up from the Everfree Forest, a mountain of metal that would go on to be a near unstoppable force in all kinds of situations, from rescuing Cadance from Chrysalis, to warding off pirates on the open seas, to effectively crippling the Insurrectionist presence on the planet by herself.

It hadn't been without some collateral damage, most notably Manehatten which the Chief had wiped out with a nuclear explosion three months ago, reducing everything within the city and a lot of stuff surrounding it to nothing but ash and radiation.

'I might be more afraid of your brother, though,' Aegis said as the Chief's shadow disappeared. 'He made it pretty clear what he'd do to me if I really upset you.'

'He's just being protective,' Twilight said.

'With good reason,' Aegis said. 'Who wouldn't want to protect a mare as beautiful as you?'

He stole a glance at Twilight, smiling faintly, but she didn't return it, feeling a little awkward after hearing the stallion's comment.

His smile faded soon after.

'Wh-What about the cafe here?' Aegis said, changing subject. 'It's not out th-there and the Chief m-might not follow us.'

'But we'd have to deal with hospital food,' Twilight said, looking at the remains of her breakfast with less than fond memories.

'It's better in the cafe,' Aegis said. 'Fresher, too. Trust me, I know. I used to work there.'

'You cook?' Twilight said.

'No,' the stallion said. 'I, uh, I collected dishes. But the smells coming from the kitchen were nice.'

He laughed a little nervously but soon quietened down, adding, 'Or-Or we could have some food delivered if you don't want to go out.'

Twilight shook her head at the idea, saying, 'No, going out will do. We'll give the doctors the benefit of the doubt and see if being active helps me a little.'

Aegis nodded his head quickly.

'I'll need to wash up first, though,' Twilight said, catching a faint whiff of an unwashed body and seeing herself in the mirror.

Her hair was all over the place and greasy in more than a few places, and the twin trails of snot from last night were still there. Hardly what would be considered an acceptable appearance for going out in public.

Aegis nodded again and stood, his joints audibly creaking and popping after being still for so long, then left.

Twilight cast one last look in the mirror at her ragged appearance then followed the absent stallion's example of standing up, feeling her own body protest at the movement after so long without meaningful use.

She moved into the meagre en suite her room had and set the shower running, stepping into the warm stream of water once it was at the right temperature and began the arduous process of washing away the grime of the past several days.

**1228 HOURS, APRIL 19, 2553 (MILITARY CALENDAR/LOCAL TIME) \ SLEIPNIR SYSTEM, PLANET FAUSTIA \ CITY OF VANHOOVER, GREATER VANHOOVER HOSPITAL**

'-and then I said, as seriously as I could manage at that point, they weren't hen eggs.'

Aegis finished his story off, a grin on his face, as Twilight burst out laughing.

'And he didn't-?' she said.

'Nope,' he said.

'And you didn't-?'

'Nope.'

The Alicorn laughed again, shaking her head in amusement, as around them the patrons of the hospital's cafe went about their business.

There were families meeting with hospitalised relatives or nurses and doctors enjoying their lunch break, all of them relaxed and chatting, and opposite Twilight and Aegis were Shining Armour and the Chief, both of them watching the Alicorn as she and Aegis talked.

The Chief had her weapon stripped down on the table before her, cleaning or adjusting it, and Shining Armour had nothing but a cup of coffee in front of him.

Both of them had taken up the task of watching Twilight but only the Spartan remained a constant presence as Shining Armour was helping train the next batch of Equestrian Militia recruits, showing up when they had broken for lunch.

'He looks annoyed,' Aegis said.

'Yeah,' Twilight said, nodding her head in agreement.

Shining Armour's brow was furrowed ever so slightly, the corners of his mouth turned down, like something was bothering him.

'You don't think it's me, do you?' Aegis said.

'Why would it be you?' Twilight replied.

'Well, I'm hanging around you a lot,' the stallion said, shrugging. 'He doesn't seem to trust me that much. Could be he's worried I'm up to something.'

'Are you?'

'No,' Aegis said. 'More likely, he's just worried I'm trying to muscle in on his territory. I don't think he likes the fact my name is so close to his. He's called Shining Armour, I'm called Gleaming Aegis.'

Twilight looked at the pony and said, 'Your first name is Gleaming?'

'No,' Aegis said, shaking his head. 'It's just Aegis. I was just trying to make a joke, you know? Aegis and Armour. Same first letter, same sort of meaning. I just needed a word in front that meant I was, uh...'

He trailed off, embarrassed.

'Never mind,' he muttered. 'Stupid joke. Forget I said it.'

'I don't know,' Twilight said as she rocked her cup of tea from side to side, swirling the contents around. 'It was kind of funny. Could have done with a bit of work on the delivery but, yeah. It was an okay joke.'

'It was terrible,' Aegis said. 'Come on, you don't have to sugar coat it. I am a largish, semi-muscular stallion. I can take it.'

'It was terrible,' Twilight said.

Aegis let out a fake, over the top, dismayed groan and let his head fall to the table, saying, 'Oh, woe is me. Unable to tell a joke to a princess, I have failed my job as the court jester.'

The princess in question laughed again as Aegis lifted his head back up, a deadpan expression on his face.

'Better,' Twilight said. 'But, yeah. Court jester definitely isn't the job for you.'

'I know,' Aegis said, taking a sip from his drink. 'Tried it once, didn't like it. The costume chafed in all the wrong places and the bells drove me crazy, near enough. Well, crazier. I did, after all, agree to put the costume on in the first place and be a court jester.'

She giggled again, glancing back at her brother and his Spartan companion.

'So why do you think he's looking like that?' Aegis asked. 'Is it me? Am I too much for him to bear?'

'No. No, I think the Chief's the reason,' Twilight said, seeing Shining Armour say something to the Spartan who said something back, something in her response making the unicorn's face become irritated again. 'Shining Armour probably doesn't see you as a threat.'

'Nopony does,' Aegis said. 'That's what makes me so deadly. That, and the fact I'm so quiet.' He gasped. 'I'm silent but deadly. By the time you smell me, it's too late!'

His outburst came right at the same time as Twilight was taking another sip of her tea, catching her completely off guard and forcing her to sputter as she tried to suppress more laughter.

'Ah,' Aegis said as the Alicorn continued to sputter and cough. 'Another reason I'm not good at telling jokes. No sense of timing.'

'Yeah, you don't say,' Twilight said between coughs, a napkin dabbing away at her lips while Aegis took care of the mess on the table.

She coughed one last time but smiled.

This was her second day of having Aegis keeping her company, the stallion escorting her to the hospital's cafe as promised where they had a lunch which, as promised, tasted better than the stale oats and warm apple juice had done if only due to being fresher.

As the day had worn on, and as he and Twilight spoke more and more, Aegis had slowly become more animated and talkative, likely relaxing around the Alicorn, his blush fading into obscurity and only making a comeback in rare occasions.

He had stayed with the princess until late, escorting her back to her room before bidding Twilight goodnight and leaving.

She had slept slightly better than before, falling into a slumber quickly enough, but nightmares had plagued her throughout the night rather than the dreamless state Twilight had fallen into beside Aegis.

Still, it had been better than jolting back to wakefulness every few minutes, having to then face the day on near enough no sleep at all, so the doctors took that as a sign she was improving, alongside a more upbeat demeanour that was a complete contrast to her state upon arriving in Vanhoover not five days ago.

They elected to let Aegis spend another day with Twilight, and would likely let him stay until a proper treatment plan could be drawn up, and the Pegasus had happily agreed, arriving at Twilight's room shortly after nine o'clock in the morning earlier that day, ready for another round of chatting with her.

Journalists were clamouring to speak with the princess, forming huge groups at every entrance into the hospital but were stopped from entering by burly looking stallions, and in one instance by the Chief where a particularly loud mouthed unicorn had objected to the denial of entry, spouting freedom of press, but upon seeing the Spartan walking up, rifle to hand, he had quickly shut up and left, as did most of the others.

All of this had been relayed to Twilight by word of mouth from some of the nurses, irritated they had to fight their way through the thronging crowds, and she had apologised profusely to them, feeling it was in a sense her fault.

'So, the Chief is the reason your brother's looking so annoyed,' Aegis said. 'Any idea what she's said to do it?'

'No,' Twilight said. 'I don't know what the Chief could say to irritate him like that, and I've known her for nearly four months.'

'You think she's making fun of him?'

'Doubt it. She only gets insulting in exceptional circumstances and even then it's more condescending than anything else. The Chief's got a very dry sense of humour, I think.'

'Ah.' Aegis hummed in thought. 'Maybe she's trying to sarcasm him into a coma.'

'Why?'

'I don't know. I'm not a Spartan. I'm a failed court jester with bad timing.'

Twilight laughed at that, and then at the thought of the Chief somehow forcing her brother into a comatose state simply by talking to him in sarcasm. The image of Shining Armour lying on the floor, foaming at the mouth, as the Spartan stood over him made her laugh some more.

Then she stopped laughing, spotting the hulking presence of Big Macintosh amid the crowded cafe easily.

Aegis, who had been smiling up until this point, stopped as he saw both the Earth pony and Twilight's expression.

'Ah,' he said.

Twilight said nothing.

She longed for the stallion, wanted him more than anything else she'd ever wanted before, the result of a crush that had grown into something akin to love following her disastrous diplomatic trip to the Griffin Kingdom that had seen Spike first killed, then vaporised, but Fluttershy had beaten her to Big Macintosh, and had this been a normal period with no war of any kind and no death, Twilight would have quite easily let the whole thing slide.

But it hadn't been a period of peace, or a period without death, and the events that had happened within the palace had pushed Twilight to seek solace and comfort, and her only choice in mind after stepping off the Chief's Pelican after it had crashed was Big Macintosh.

Not her friends, not her family, but the lumbering stallion who rarely spoke and had made off with her Smarty Pants doll after a debacle in the centre of Ponyville a few years previously.

Her crush had evolved into something more similar to longing, forced that way by the emotional anguish of losing one of her closest and oldest friends, somepony she saw as family.

'So,' Aegis said, breaking the silence that had fallen over the two. 'That's Big Mac, huh?'

Twilight just nodded.

'Is Big his first name or is just an ironic one, given how small he is?'

'What?' Twilight said, tearing her eyes off the stallion as he and Fluttershy arrived at Shining Armour's table.

'His name,' Aegis said, jerking his head at Big Mac. 'Is it really Big? Or is, you know, one of those ironic names like calling a short pony Lofty?'

'It's his real name,' Twilight said. 'Everypony in the Apple family are called after apples, or something related to apples. And what do you mean by how small he is? Mac's the biggest pony I know, and one of the biggest in all of Equestria.'

'A joke,' Aegis muttered. 'A bad one, too.'

Twilight glowered at the Pegasus briefly then went back to watching Big Macintosh and Fluttershy as she stood next to him, her smaller frame easily dwarfed by the stallion in both terms of height and weight.

She hadn't really seen much of Fluttershy since coming back from the Griffin Kingdom, her stressed mind labelling her as a thief and a bad friend for asking Mac out first, and had even tried to attack her and Big Macintosh as they slept, only for it to be a trap set out by the Chief.

What Twilight had thought were the two ponies were actually bales of hay the Spartan had placed inside their tent well beforehand, tackling the princess to the ground and injecting her with a strong sedative, but not before Twilight had flown them both up into the air and then dropped from it as A196 rendered her unconscious with a choke hold.

After that, things had been a little strained between the two, more from Twilight than from Fluttershy who had wanted to try and keep their friendship aloft but the princess had remained distant, not even attending their wedding which had led to her capture by the Insurrectionists and the loss of her horn.

Twilight had spent a little more around Pinkie Pie but her latest visit to the Earth pony had ended with Pinkie growling at Twilight when she came close without any kind of explanation.

'So,' Aegis said again. 'That's what you look for in a stallion, is it? The strong, silent type? Okay. I'm halfway there, already.'

'Please,' Twilight muttered. 'You're nowhere near either of those things.'

'I am too,' Aegis shot back. 'Okay, maybe not the silent type but I'm strong. Ish. Sometimes. When I feel like it. If I've had a big enough meal.'

He opened his mouth to speak but faltered, looking off into the distance as he thought, then said, 'What else can I say to make out that I'm not strong?'

'Why are you asking me? And why are you doing that, making out that you're not strong?'

'Because I'm trying to make you laugh, even if it's at my expense,' Aegis said. 'Come on, help a stallion out.'

'Why are you trying to make me laugh?' Twilight said.

'Because I like the noise,' Aegis said. 'And I don't like you looking sad.'

'So it's for your benefit?'

'In a way, yeah.' Aegis flashed her a sheepish grin. 'Yours too, I guess. Laughing means you're happy about something, and you don't look happy right now.'

'I wonder why,' Twilight muttered, going back to looking at Mac.

She guessed rather than saw his expression fall but still the stallion persevered.

'Come on, Twi,' he said. 'Help a spindly, short, timid, talkative loon of a failed court jester think up another way of insulting himself.'

'Why should I help think up insults to describe you?' she said.

'Because it's not like I've got a chance with you, is it?' Aegis said. 'You're head over hoof for Mac. I'll never get a second look. Even if I made up some ridiculous boasts about how great I am, you wouldn't be interested. Tell me I'm wrong.'

She didn't, and she didn't say he was right either.

Instead Twilight just left him hanging, watching as Big Macintosh and Fluttershy left the Chief and her brother to go to another part of the cafe, the stallion leading the blind mare.

Twilight lamented over the pairing, how it was Fluttershy stood next to Big Macintosh and was married to him, not her, and looked down dejectedly at her cup of now cold tea, imagining what her life would be like of their positions were reversed.

She saw herself stood next to Big Macintosh in a variety of situations like shopping, or going to the theatre, but didn't imagine what their home life would be like because she couldn't quite picture it entirely, just snippets of them sitting across from one another, eating, or lying in bed together, talking maybe or just sleeping.

Aegis shifted next to her, feeling awkward at the atmosphere that had descended over the pair, but both he and Twilight fell backwards in shock and surprise when a massive rock smashed through the cafe's glass roof and slammed into the floor with a ground shaking tremble, flattening dozens of unfortunate ponies sat beneath the skylight.

It bounced once then rolled towards a cake stand, destroying it and the ponies selecting their desserts, and finally came to a halt after embedding itself partly into the wall behind it.

Screams had erupted across the room even before the rock had touched down, doubling once shards of glass were sprayed in every direction under the sun like a deadly shower, slicing numerous ponies up as others dove for cover.

Aegis was one of those diving for whatever cover there was to be found, tackling Twilight to the ground as well and letting the pieces of glass impact his body rather than hers, screaming in surprise and sudden pain.

'Buck!' he yelled as the pair landed on the floor amid thousands of glass shards, ranging from the size of a pebble to the size of a slice of pie. 'Buck, buck, buck!'

'What was that?' Twilight yelled back, spotting the rock as it leaned against the wall, trying her best to blot out the blood smears that marred its surface.

'I don't know,' Aegis said as he got to his hooves, shaking one wing and then the other clear of glass, creating his own little shower as dozens of the shards fell from his wings and then the rest of his body as he shook again. 'What about-'

He looked over the table they had dived behind, saw the flattened corpses and the spreading pool of blood, went pale, then threw up directly onto the cafe floor.

'Are you okay?' Twilight said, flashing to her hooves to place a steadying one on Aegis' shoulder as he rocked to and fro, eyes locked onto the carnage.

He threw up again.

'No.'

Doctors and nurses streamed into the cafe, some of them already injured, to treat whatever wounds there were.

Twilight checked herself over for any but found none, then looked over Aegis' body as he wiped some sick from his mouth, seeing a sliver of glass the size of her horn sticking out of the middle of his cutie mark.

'Aegis,' she whispered. 'You, um, you've got glass in your leg.'

The stallion whipped his head round, saw the sliver of glass, let out a giddy laugh, then fainted on the spot as his face drained of colour.

'Aegis!' Twilight said in alarm, kneeling down next to the pony as the sound of running hooves approached.

Shining Armour vaulted over the table and landed with as much decorum as he could manage, two of his hooves coming down in Aegis' vomit and slipping, but he stopped easily enough and rushed over to his sister, wrapping her in a tight hug before checking she was okay.

'Twilli, you're okay,' he said, panting. 'When I saw the rock come down, I thought-'

He hugged her again.

'I'm glad you're safe.'

'Yeah, Aegis pushed me to the floor,' Twilight said as she disentangled herself from the unicorn. 'Took some glass and passed out when he saw it.'

'Is he still breathing?' Shining Armour asked as Twilight went back to examining Aegis.

He was, which was good, but his leg was bleeding, which was bad.

Shining Armour yelled for a doctor as he levitated some napkins over, placing them around the shard of glass to stem the bleeding a little. They turned red within seconds.

'I need a doctor!' Shining Armour shouted again. 'Twilight, get more napkins.'

She nodded and darted to the nearest table, grapping as many of the flimsy wipes as she could with just her hooves, dumping them next to her brother as Aegis regained some awareness and began making some vague sounds.

'Coma,' he mumbled, blinking heavily and out of sync. 'Not in one. Spartan failed.'

'What?' Shining Armour said, confused. 'Who's not in a coma? And what did the Chief fail at?'

'Nothing,' Twilight said, grabbing another batch of napkins. 'Something we were talking about earlier.'

Aegis rolled his eyes in Twilight's direction, smiling when he saw her.

'Pretty mare,' he said, grinning like a loon. 'Pretty mare, pretty eyes. Beautiful, even in rags.'

'More things that are nothing?' Shining Armour said.

'I guess,' Twilight said.

'Lucky,' Aegis said, his attention now on Shining Armour. 'Lucky brother. Pretty sister, beautiful sister. Lucky brother, but scary.' He giggled. 'You're scary. But Twilight's pretty. She's pretty and you're scary.'

He giggled again and raised his head, looking at the glass imbedded in his thigh and the blood soaked napkins surrounding it.

'Oh, blood,' Aegis said, then fainted, his head landing with a thump on the tiled floor.

'Was he like this before he got stabbed by glass?' Shining Armour asked Twilight. 'Because I've never heard him talk before now.'

'No, he's usually more intelligible than this,' she said. 'When he's not making fun of himself to make me laugh.'

A doctor arrived soon after, a bag filled with bandages and other medical paraphernalia floating beside him, and he quickly got to work on Aegis' leg, placing a more substantial bandage around the glass shard than the napkins, then began easing it out with delicate movements, another bandage floating nearby ready to cover the wound up once the glass was gone.

Aegis regained consciousness as this was going on, looking straight at Twilight as she knelt close by, smiling at her.

'I like you,' he said. 'I really like you. So pretty, prettiest mare in all of Equestria. Prettiest princess, too. Pretty face, beautiful eyes. Best feature. Don't like seeing them sad.'

The doctor yanked the glass all the way out, covering the open wound with the waiting dressing within seconds, and Aegis let out a small yelp of pain before passing out for a third time.

'Any idea what that caused him to talk like that?' Shining Armour said to the doctor. 'Blood loss, maybe?

'From that small a wound?' the doctor said. 'Goodness, no. That's a mild case of delirium. It's not uncommon for ponies to come to with reduced inhibitions after fainting, meaning they speak what's on their mind or say things they wouldn't normally say.' He packed his bag up. 'Your coltfriend really likes you, ma'am.'

'We're not going out,' Twilight said.

'No?' the doctor said. 'Huh. Well, then this young stallion must think quite highly of you to say what he said.'

He left to attend to another pony that had suffered lacerations from the glass before Twilight or Shining Armour could respond, leaving them with the still unconscious Aegis.

'So, he thinks you're the prettiest mare in all Equestria, does he?' Shining Armour said.

'Don't start,' Twilight said as the Pegasus before her began moving and talking again.

'You're pretty,' Aegis said to Twilight, smiling, before saying to Shining Armour, 'And you're scary. You're scary and she's pretty. Twilight's prettier than you are scarier. That's why I was able to ask her out. Because I think she's pretty more than I think you're scary.'

'Oh, yeah?' Shining Armour said. 'Well, do anything to upset her and you'll find out how scary I can be. Now come on. Get up and start walking. We need to get someplace safe.'

Aegis giggled as Shining Armour and Twilight dragged him to his hooves between him, the Pegasus leaning against the stallion for support.

'Don't worry, I won't do anything to upset her,' Aegis said to the unicorn, trying and failing to sound serious, his current deliria causing him to come across as giddy and euphoric. 'I like her too much to risk losing her. And don't worry about getting Twi somewhere safe. I'll always look after her.'

'I'm sure,' Shining Armour said as he led Aegis and Twilight out of the cafe.

'And you don't have to worry about me moving in on your territory,' Aegis continued. 'For starters I don't have any kind of synonymy thingy for shining in my name, just one for armour. So don't worry.'

'I wasn't planning on worrying.'

'Good,' Aegis said. 'Very good. Because then you can focus all your attention on stopping the Spartan from putting you into a coma using sarcasm.'

He tried again to sound serious but Aegis' giddiness undermined it all, and both Shining Armour and Twilight rolled their eyes.

The trio entered a hallway filled with numerous other ponies, pausing momentarily when they felt a tremor ripple through the building, and stopping completely when a surge of power swept across them all and broke every light they could see, plunging the whole corridor into complete darkness.

'I'm blind!' Aegis yelled, only for every unicorn present to illuminate the tips of their horns, bathing the area in a multitude of hues. 'Oh, wait. No I'm not. Yay!'

'Shut up,' Shining Armour hissed at the Pegasus as he continued to lean against him, Twilight taking a small step closer to them both.

'What do you think is happening?' she asked.

'I don't know,' Shining Armour said. 'Best guess would be something or somepony knocked all the lights out.'

'But why?' Twilight whispered.

'I don't know,' Shining Armour said again as more ponies appeared in the hallway, carrying with them torches or casting illumination spells and spreading an order from Princess Luna herself to evacuate Vanhoover, to flee the city and head into the forests north of it until the attacking griffins and Insurrectionists were broken and defeated by a select few who would remain behind.

How long it would take was anypony's guess.

Their only way of knowing the battle was won would be when Nightmare Moon raised the sun again.

Until then, Equestria would remain in a permanent state of darkness.


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: ****I don't own My Little Pony or Halo. They belong to Hasbro and Bungie/Microsoft/343 Industries respectively.**

Chapter Three

**1713 HOURS, APRIL 22, 2553 (MILITARY CALENDAR/LOCAL TIME) \ SLEIPNIR SYSTEM, PLANET FAUSTIA \ VANHOOVER FORESTS**

The evacuation of Vanhoover had been little more than a barely organised stampede as all of the fifteen-thousand citizens and visitors jostled and fought their way to get out of the city, carrying whatever personal effects they couldn't bear to leave behind in bulging saddle bags, hoping against hope that a rock wouldn't come down from the dark sky above and crush them.

From the outskirts of the city, the griffins had set up numerous trebuchets and catapults, and brought with them a seemingly infinite number of rocks that rained down on the port city in a never ending barrage.

Buildings were often the target, their facades and brickwork crumbling as the multi-ton missiles slammed into them and sent debris flying everywhere, with some unfortunate ponies getting injured, or worse killed, by the chunks as they rained down.

Twice a building Twilight, Shining Armour, and Aegis had been stood next to was the subject of a strike, and twice all three had dove for cover, Shining Armour throwing up a protective shield to keep them safe from harm.

The worst part, though, was travelling through the northern part of Vanhoover, the last segment of the city before buildings gave way to rolling grasslands, and before that too gave way to the beginnings of the Northern Forests.

Insurrectionist forces had tried to stop the mass of fleeing ponies, sending multiple soldiers, Warthogs, and Pelicans to do so, but had run into complications in the form of both the Chief and Nightmare Moon, the Alicorn unleashing devastating beams that reduced whoever was unlucky enough to get caught by one into dust and shadows.

Anguished screams had echoed across the buildings mixed in with maniacal laughs from Nightmare Moon, and everypony had shifted from a hurried stampede into a frenzied sprint, trying to get clear of the area as fast as possible without dying.

Even with the Spartan and Nightmare Moon present to engage the hostiles, Insurrectionist and griffin soldiers still managed to slip though and open fire, cutting down droves of ponies amid automatic fire and grenades.

Shining Armour had taken action against them, rallying some other unicorns that were close by, forming a rearguard that held the line until the last of the evacuees were away before dispersing and retreating after everypony.

It hadn't been a complete success with a third of the ponies helping Shining Armour being killed or badly wounded, and a ten percent fatality rate amongst the ponies they were protecting with another forty suffering grievous wounds.

Thankfully, neither Twilight nor Aegis were amongst the dead or wounded, making it into the forest no worse for wear aside from Aegis' already wounded leg, and Shining Armour had rejoined them quickly enough, ready to face the next few days as well as they could.

With the sun lowered, the air temperature dropped quickly, even with a thick cloud cover serving to retain whatever heat was already in the air.

By the end of the first day, everypony could see their breath.

By the second, they were starting to shiver.

By the third, frost was starting to appear.

Out of the fifteen thousand ponies that had evacuated, barely a fifth of them had thought to pack warm clothes, and fewer still had brought food.

Fights broke out over the smallest of things, erupting into massive brawls that left ponies worse off and often destroying whatever it was they had fought over.

It was like Ponyville after the first attack by the Insurrection, only magnified by a thousand and lacking the Chief's calming presence.

It was barely contained chaos even with the mayor of Vanhoover and several enterprising ponies trying to keep some form of order, taking stock of the warm clothes and what little food there was and giving the sick and elderly priority to receive it.

Shining Armour helped with that too, as well as organising the Equestrian Militia recruits that had fled Vanhoover to carry out patrols of everypony, trying to give the impression that all was well and that things were okay.

They weren't, not by a long shot, but it showed that somepony cared enough to try and look after everypony, which, unfortunately, needed constant supervision meaning Shining Armour had to leave Twilight and Aegis along for most of the day, something that had lost all meaning with the disappearance of the sun.

'We'll b-b-be okay, Twi-Twi-Twilight,' Aegis said, teeth chattering from the cold as he and the Alicorn sat close to each other, huddled underneath the same threadbare blanket for warmth. It wasn't doing a spectacular job as both ponies shivered almost constantly, but it was better than nothing. 'Don't worry.'

'I'm not w-w-worrying,' Twilight said. 'I'm just c-c-cold.'

'But it's so warm,' Aegis said as a strong gust of wind whipped across everypony, a biting chill that made it feel even colder than it already was. 'Why are you cold?'

It was a bad joke, undermined by the ever present chatter in Aegis' teeth as his spoke, but as with the militia recruits on patrol it was the thought that counted, so Twilight forced herself to laugh before huddling closer to her Pegasus companion as another gust of wind swept across the encampment.

'Just a gentle breeze,' Aegis whispered, shaking violently.

The winds were blowing in the same direction, and he had placed himself between them and Twilight, a windbreak to help keep her protected from the worst of it.

'You must be used to some real big gusts, then,' Twilight whispered back.

'Yeah, my dad,' Aegis said. 'Give him some beans to eat and phew. Never knew anypony else who could clear a room so quickly.'

Twilight laughed again, just a few breathy noises, as a pair of militia recruits came through on a patrol, checking up on everypony.

They were both Earth ponies, dressed in nothing but their fatigues that told everypony they were only rank and file, not squad or platoon leaders, but they seemed happy enough, going from cluster to cluster of ponies and checking on them, trading jokes with a few, and competent, keeping their eyes moving to take in as much as possible to check for danger.

Both of them passed by Twilight and Aegis, nodded in greeting, which were returned, and moved on.

'Why didn't you volunteer to be in the militia?' Twilight asked.

'I was too violent for them,' Aegis said, which, in Aegis Speak, meant he was too timid to join up knowing what it might entail. 'Plus, not being in it meant I got the chance to spend time with you.'

He shook again from the cold and let out a juddering breath, white vapour rolling from his mouth that spiralled up into the frigid air until it was lost from sight in the darkness.

A few ponies had lit lanterns, offering some dim illumination that provided just enough light to navigate by, and a few unicorns were keeping their horns lit continuously while they were awake, turning themselves into roving lanterns, but the spot Twilight and Aegis were sat in was devoid of much lighting.

'Are you cold, Aegis?' Twilight asked as the stallion shivered again.

'N-no,' he said, teeth clattering uncontrollably.

'You are,' she said. 'Don't deny it.'

'Okay, I'm cold,' Aegis said. 'But what can you do about it? We've only got a thin blanket and nopony has a fire going.'

Which was odd given the low temperatures but mainly it was due to the forest they were camped out in possessing rotten wood or twigs and branches that weren't big enough to sustain a fire for very long.

Some ponies were working on felling a few trees with the intent of chopping them up to produce viable firewood material but without proper tools the progress was slow.

'We could do something,' Twilight said. 'Move around, maybe. I don't know.'

'Like what, go for a w-walk?' Aegis said.

'Maybe,' Twilight said. 'Walking warms you up, doesn't it? You're moving, generating heat, getting the blood flowing again.'

'I could think of a few other things we can do to keep warm,' Aegis said, smiling wonkily at the mare, a glazed look beginning to take hold in his eyes.

'Just how cold are you, Aegis?' Twilight asked.

Her mind felt sluggish and her limbs felt somewhat numb, all of which were symptoms typically related to hypothermia, and she was out of the wind thanks to Aegis, and she had more of the blanket covering her, which told Twilight she was only slowly becoming hypothermic.

Aegis was taking the wind full on without anypony to block him from it, and he had less of the blanket covering him than Twilight, so he was losing his body heat much more quickly than the Alicorn, possibly to the point that moderate hypothermia was beginning to take hold.

He was no doubt suffering from mild hypothermia but then, who wasn't?

Nopony had any real cover or sources of warmth, meaning they were all freezing at roughly the same rate.

'Cold,' Aegis said with his wonky smile still present. 'Why?'

'Because I think you really need warming up,' Twilight said. 'Come on, let's go for a walk.'

The stallion giggled.

'Are you asking me out on a date, princess?' he said. 'A failed court jester such as myself?'

'If you want to call it that, yes,' Twilight said. 'Really, I think it's best if we get you moving around and warmed up a bit. Maybe we could find a doctor to check you out.'

'I'm fine,' Aegis said dismissively. 'A little cold but I'm having a nice cuddle with the prettiest mare I know, so that makes it bearably.'

Twilight rolled her eyes.

'I'm serious, Aegis,' she said. 'Come on, go for a walk with me. We need to warm up.'

'What if I want to stay here?'

'Not an option,' Twilight said. 'We're going for a walk. Right now.'

'Aw, but I want to stay here!' Aegis said.

'No,' Twilight said, feeling as though she were speaking with a petulant foal. 'Walk. Now.'

Her tone didn't give the impression the order was up for discussion, and the stern follow up look she gave Aegis was enough to make him back down and bow to her demands.

Twilight stood up first and was caught wholly unprepared for the wind that howled past her, gasping at the biting chill it possessed and found herself stumbling a step or two with the gale.

'Wow, that's cold,' she said, shivering, breath hanging in the air before her until the wind caused it to disperse.

'I know,' Aegis said as he stood up after the mare, throwing the blanket over her. 'I can't even feel my wound anymore.'

'That's bad, I think,' she said a moment before shaking the blanket off and using her hooves to throw it over Aegis instead. 'You take it. I don't need it as much as you.'

Which wasn't quite true.

In the few seconds she had been stood up away from the protective barrier that was Aegis, Twilight felt the air had dropped a full ten degrees in the blink of an eye and was continuing downwards, but feared that the stallion that had shielded her from the chilling wind was much, much colder.

'You look like you do,' Aegis said as he watched Twilight shiver.

He moved his head to grab the edge of the blanket in his mouth, ready to yank it off and throw over Twilight, but she held up a hoof to stop him.

'Aegis, really, I'm fine,' she said. 'You keep it.'

He looked at her dubiously but relented, adjusting the blanket so it fell over him more evenly, then moved to stand beside Twilight, draping his wing over her trembling form.

'We can share it,' he said. 'So long as you don't mind being this close.'

His wing felt cold and its movements were sluggish, but it was warmer than the air around it and Twilight theorised that once she and Aegis began moving, it would warm up some more.

'I don't mind,' she said.

They set off together, moving awkwardly like an eight legged creature that was only just figuring out how to walk, weaving their way in and out of the ponies that had fled Vanhoover.

Families clustered close together, the old and young in the centre while parents or older siblings lined the edge, prioritising who needed the warmth most, and even single ponies sought each other out to share body heat, awkward looks on their faces as they proximity in many cases, shared solidarity in others at facing the hardships of fleeing to a forest during a sunless winter together.

Twilight and Aegis said hello to some of them as they passed, slowly warming up to the point where their teeth weren't clattering and their bodies were only shaking minutely, stopping on the fringes of the encampment to look at Vanhoover off in the distance, a dark smudge in an otherwise dark countryside.

'You think they're winning?' Aegis asked quietly. 'The Chief and Nightmare Moon.'

'Yes,' Twilight said without hesitation. 'If anypony can deal with this, it's them. The Chief's a living weapon, near enough, and Nightmare Moon is Nightmare Moon.'

They were too far away to hear any gunfire or whatever explosions might be occurring, but over the past few days they had seen the brief glow of an explosion as Nightmare Moon did her grisly work, and today was no different.

Small brief flashes came from various points within the city, some larger than others, but all at once there was a single massive explosion, big enough and bright enough to momentarily illuminate the darkened city for miles around, and several seconds later everypony that that left Vanhoover could hear the dull whump of the explosion, the full force and sound softened by the distance travelled.

A distant part of Twilight's mind told her that this meant the initial explosion was phenomenally loud and powerful to still be audible this far out, and the rest of her mind worried about what had caused it.

'Whoa,' Aegis whispered as the explosion winked out. 'That was... that was big.'

'I know,' Twilight said. 'I wonder what caused it?'

'Hopefully a whole bunch of Innies and griffins going up in smoke,' Aegis said. 'But that's kind of a best case scenario.'

'Do I want to know what the worst case scenario is?'

'No.'

Twilight went oh and lapsed into silence beside Aegis, both of them watching the city for any further explosions or developments, but none came for a long, long while, until nearly an hour afterwards when the sky was lit by an unearthly orange glow that seemed to be coming from behind the thick cloud layer, preceding the sudden appearance of a dozen or so pieces of flaming debris that broke though and aimed straight for Vanhoover, smashing down into the city and exploding.

Each impact produced its own bright pinprick of light, casting shadows far and wide, and Twilight and Aegis squeezed their eyes shut at the sudden and immense change in light.

'What the...?' Aegis half shouted as more pieces of debris appeared, trailing fire and smoke. 'Are they missiles?'

'No,' Twilight said, her mind flashing back to Ponyville three months ago when the Insurrectionists had launched a wave of what the Chief called Archer missiles on the town.

This was nothing like that, bearing more in common with the frigate that Princess Celestia had downed. It had slammed into the ground on fire and leaking black smoke, just like what was happened now.

'No,' she said again. 'They're ships, I think. Somepony or something is shooting them down.'

'The UNSC, maybe?' Aegis said as another wreck screeched through the cloud layer, touching down in the countryside near Vanhoover and exploding in a huge fireball.

More ponies had joined Twilight and Aegis, drawn initially by the first explosion but had stayed once ships came hurtling through the clouds to intersect on the ground below, whispering amongst themselves.

'I hope so,' Twilight said, looking through one hole in the clouds to see dozens of smaller fireballs descending from the night sky.

Her first thought upon seeing them was that it was a missile strike, but then she realised they were drop pods like the Chief had used to arrive on Equestria, and to deliver her remaining supplies.

'It is!' she yelled, relief now washing over her. 'The UNSC's here!'

As if to confirm her statement, a translucent image of the UNSC logo appeared above the middle of Vanhoover, rotating slightly, as the first of nearly fifty flaming metal eggs emerged from the clouds and descended on Vanhoover.

Twilight repeated herself, the crowd around her soon picking it up and repeating it like a mantra, stomping their hooves in excitement as the first of the drop pods touched down across the city and were lost from sight.

There was nothing for a brief minute after the last pod touched down, just silence and stillness in the air above Vanhoover, until a flight of Pelicans dropped down from above, their engines only visible as pinpricks in the darkness, followed soon after by a resurgence in muffled explosions, no doubt the UNSC's armed forces getting to work on clearing the city of the invaders.

Another cheer went up across everypony gathered and some of the ponies present began walking towards the distant city, prompting others within the crowd to do the same and so on until it seemed like everypony was walking back, spirits restored at the prospect of being saved.

Twilight and Aegis were swept along with them, buoyed along by the new happy feeling permeating everything, joined soon after by Shining Armour who forced his way through the thronging ponies, a happier expression on his face than it had been since leaving Vanhoover.

For the first time in a long while, everything was going to be okay.

**1949 HOURS, APRIL 22, 2553 (MILITARY CALENDAR/LOCAL TIME) \ SLEIPNIR SYSTEM, PLANET FAUSTIA \ NEAR OUTSKIRTS OF VANHOOVER**

It took far longer to leave Vanhoover than it did to return, or it felt longer to leave the city, because the long march from the forests back into the city felt like it passed by in an instance, the outer edges of Equestria's western port city looming up out of the darkness to greet the wayward ponies, all of them letting out whoops of joy at returning.

The city didn't look as bad as it did as Twilight had pictured it would be, expecting the buildings to be in various states of ruin or demolished completely, but as she, her brother, and Aegis all walked down the street she saw the opposite, that the buildings bore only minimal damage.

Off in the distance, though, everypony could hear gunfire and explosions, the noises growing somewhat louder the more they pressed into Vanhoover, but at the same time it sounded like they were trailing off which, given the fact the UNSC had had nearly two whole hours to clear the city of a relatively small hostile presence, was most likely due to the city being secured.

Everypony kept up their pace, roughly heading towards where they had seen the UNSC logo appear above the city a few hours ago.

It had to be where the Chief had based herself, and it had to be the place where the UNSC forces would converge, so it had to be the safest part of Vanhoover right at this very moment, so they should head for it immediately.

The streets remained relatively empty to begin with but the closer the returning evacuees got to the centre, the more signs of battle they saw in the form of a wrecked Pelican, or a dead griffin soldier, and they quickened their pace at each instance.

Overhead, more Pelicans flew down from beyond the cloud cover, carrying with them who knew what, and one or two flew directly over the ponies before banking away from them.

They must have been in contact with the ground forces because not five minutes later, a group of what could have only been Spartans appeared in the street ahead of the column, followed soon after by masses of regular human soldiers.

The crowd came to a slow halt opposite the humans who did the same, the four Spartans craning their necks to look over the ponies as a third Pelican appeared, taking up position above them, and a moment later the Spartans moved towards the evacuees.

'What do you think they're doing?' Aegis whispered.

'Looking for somepony, I guess,' Twilight whispered back. 'Me, probably.'

They were, and the four Spartans formed a line in front of Twilight, the crowd edging back from them to give everypony space.

'Princess Twilight Sparkle?' one of the Spartans said, looking right at her.

The Alicorn nodded, unsure of whether they could understand her or not. With the Chief all those months ago, she had cast a translation spell to allow communication between the two species, but that had been back when she had a horn.

'Spartan Jones,' the same Spartan said, tapping himself on the chest with his thumb. 'I've got orders to escort you and your friends to one of our ships for medical treatment. Princess Luna is already up there.'

'Just us?' Twilight said. 'What about everypony else?'

Jones cocked his head to one side, hinting that he didn't understand what she was saying, so Twilight gestured at everypony gathered around them.

'They'll be seen to on the ground,' he said. 'We've got Pelicans coming in with food and supplies, heaters too, but you and your friends are the priority right now. Admiral Salem wants at least two metres of Titanium-A between you guys and the Innies.'

Twilight nodded at the Spartan, and he dispatched his three team mates to retrieve Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Big Macintosh from the crowd as the Pelican that had been hovering overhead lowered itself to the ground, swivelling to present its rear hatch to everypony.

Once it landed, Jones waved the other soldiers forward to deal with the mass of displaced ponies as he directed what remained of Ponyville's original inhabitants onto the waiting dropship, he and his team joining them when they were seated.

The rear hatched closed with a hiss, and the Pelican took to the skies once it was fully sealed.


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: ****I don't own My Little Pony or Halo. They belong to Hasbro and Bungie/Microsoft/343 Industries respectively.**

Chapter Four

**1759 HOURS, APRIL 22, 2553 (MILITARY CALENDAR/LOCAL TIME) \ SLIPSTREAM SPACE, UNKNOWN COORDINATES – NEAR SLIEPNIR SYSTEM \ ABOARD UNSC CRUISER **_**NO WORSE ENEMY**_

There was nothing to see out of the forward viewscreen as the UNSC _No Worse Enemy _sped towards a distant star system, accompanied by no less than thirteen other warships and a single prowler, just an inky void that was lit up on rare occasions by warping starlight.

Rear Admiral Chell Salem was sat in the command chair of her ship, a Marathon-class cruiser, the pride of the UNSC fleet, or what was left of it following the months long Battle of Earth.

Around her were the dozens of fellow sailors that made up the command crew, monitoring their duty stations and watching for any changes to any of the ship's systems.

'Transitioning back to normal space in five minutes, plus or minus two minutes,' the senior navigation officer called out.

'Very well,' Salem said.

The admiral was short, barely getting by the minimum height requirements for naval service, and was unusually thin with a lined face.

Many junior officers had nicknamed her the Witch, not because she was a mean spirited boss but because of her appearance and name, and the obvious parallels to the witch hunts that had swept through the city of Salem during the seventeenth century.

Salem didn't mind. She had partaken in similar activities during her formative years in the Navy, and knew the crew didn't mean anything by it. In reality, they said it with a modicum of respect given her impressive record of naval combat against both the Covenant and the Insurrection.

Even those who sailed under her had given themselves the nickname Familiars, extending it to ships under her command as well.

'Transitioning in two minutes, plus or minus a minute,' the navigation officer said.

The admiral simply nodded and waited.

Her crew were well trained and had plenty of experience at bringing the hundred-thousand ton ship out of slipspace into normal space.

The navigation officer counted down from ten, the bridge lights flickering as power was shunted to the slipspace drive when he reached zero, and deceleration tugged at everyone present.

'Starting sweep.'

Either side of the _No Worse Enemy, _the other ships of the battlegroup reappeared, some wildly out of place, and they hastened to form back up into formation.

To the cruiser's port was a Phoenix-class colony ship, the UNSC _To Boldly Go_, retrofitted to have some offensive capabilities in the form of a magnetic accelerator cannon and numerous Archer missiles, but its main role in combat was to carry troops and equipment for ground combat, and carrying the supplies needed to keep a battlegroup going on long campaigns.

There were four whole regiments of Marines carried within storage bays that once housed building materials and prefabricated structures, and all the Warthogs, Scorpions, Hornets, and more that would be needed during ground engagements.

To the _Enemy_'s starboard were two destroyers and two frigates, their positions mirrored on the opposite side of the _To Boldly Go, _and in front of both ships were three more frigates, two Charon-class and one Stalwart-class, acting as an initial picket for any fighters, and somewhere unknown to everyone was the prowler, the _Shadow Boxer._

It had already been to this system months earlier, depositing a Spartan supersoldier and retuning with tales of a new and friendly alien civilisation that was under attack by the Insurrection.

The UNSC had mulled this information and elected to assemble a battlegroup, gathering up whatever ships weren't too badly damaged during the Covenant's assault on Earth.

Now the fourteen ships and their prowler companion were heading to the alien's homeworld, Faustia, to deal with the Innie fleet.

'Planet found,' the navigation officer said. 'Current distance is five-hundred thousand kilometres. Plotting course now.'

'Very well,' Salem said.

She powered up the ship to ship communication system and issued her orders to the fleet.

'_Righteous Anger, Swift Strike, Aegis Fate, _I want the three of you to deliver the first blow and to drop your cargo. Launch Longswords then provide cover for the pods. _Diplomacy's Alternative, _I want you and the _Reaper _to follow them in and provide additional cover while _Attila, Vlad, Xerxes, _and _Caesar, _keep the _To Boldly Go _safe from harm. _Hades, Inferno,_ form up on the _Enemy. _We're punching right down the middle.'

The ship's commanders gave their varying responses and made preparations for the upcoming battle.

Salem's plan was to deploy her battlegroup's contingent of Spartans onto Faustia first, and more accurately Equestria, as quickly as possible so they could establish a foothold on the ground ahead of follow up Marine forces, while simultaneously using her heavy warships to shatter the enemy's fleet as it was trapped in the planet's gravity well.

Ideally, she would have liked to divert all her ships to the attack but needed to keep the Spartans safe as they dropped into battle, and to keep the Phoenix-class free from major damage.

That meant assigning the Tyrants, as her four Paris-class frigates were known, to escort duty rather than direct combat, putting them at the back of the formation, where they were of little tactical help.

Salem briefly wondered about having the _Boldly Go _jump into slipspace for an hour, away from danger, but discarded the idea. She needed it ready and waiting to deploy its load of Marines to the surface once the air over Faustia was clear.

For the time being, it would remain at the back with the Tyrants for protection.

_Righteous Anger, Swift Strike, _and _Aegis Fate, _her lone Stalwart-class frigate and two Charon-class frigates respectively, began to accelerate towards Faustia while the destroyers holding position just off the _Boldly Go_'s port side routed more power to the engines and followed them in.

'Incoming transmission from the _Shadow Boxer!' _the communications officer said. 'Enemy fleet holding position above the western coast of Equestria, roughly over a city called-' She looked at her screen, muttering the name to herself first before saying it aloud. '-Vanhoover, ma'am. They count forty-five vessels, most of them repurposed freighters.'

'That seems hardly fair, does it?' Salem said aloud. She smiled to herself. 'Arm all Archer missiles and begin warming up the MACs. Wolf, calculate casualty rates given each side's respective assumed strengths and positioning.'

A holotank built into the command chair's arm hummed to life, the translucent hologram of a hooded man appearing above it, Wolf.

He didn't say anything, simply adjusting a nearby screen to show what his simulations had predicted would be the losses each side would suffer, based off what he knew.

For the UNSC, he had access to every bit of equipment in the battlegroup's possession, knew the tactics Salem would likely use, and accurate figures on every ship's capabilities, which made calculating their chances easy.

The same couldn't be said for the Insurrectionist side as Wolf had little to no intel on them, just what the _Shadow Boxer _had been able to pass along, and what the UNSC had learned from its previous battles with the dissident colonists in space.

Salem smiled to herself again upon seeing the predicted outcomes.

UNSC casualties: none.

Insurrectionist casualties: almost total.

Of course, this was only an educated guess based off of old intelligence and a preliminary examination by a ship staying on the periphery of the enemy formation, trying its best to remain hidden.

Any number of unknowns could turn this battle against the UNSC, even with a Marathon-class cruiser participating.

'Enemy formation, screen one,' Salem said. 'Battlegroup formation, screen five.'

A young ensign nodded and tapped in a series of commands that shifted the displays on the requested screens to show each side's deployment.

'Overall tactical view, screen three.'

A third image appeared, now displaying both sides on one screen, completely to scale.

On the UNSC side, they were split into four distinct groups.

There was the _To Boldly Go _with her frigate escorts, the _Enemy_ and its destroyers, the initial frigate screen, and then there were the two destroyers that were hurrying to catch up with the faster, more nimble crafts.

Opposite them was a motley collection of old and obsolete freighters, packed into a loose box formation over the western coast of Equestria. Of the forty-five odd ships, only three were actual warships and even then, they were antiquated designs.

'They are making it easy for us, aren't they?' Salem said to no one in particular.

By clustering that closely together, and so near a planet, the Innies had effectively backed themselves into a corner.

A single Shiva warhead detonated in the midst of their fleet would eliminate most of the Insurrectionist forces, but the subsequent EMP from the detonation would fry the frigates and the drop pods they would soon be launching.

Salem clicked the ship's intercom on and said, 'All hands, battle stations.'

The bridge lights dimmed to a dark red hue as pressure doors slammed into place, sealing the room and everyone inside it.

'Guns, status?' Salem asked.

'All Archer missiles primed,' the gunnery officer said. 'MAC capacitors at eighty-five percent charge and climbing at a rate of five percent a minute.'

Salem nodded and scrutinised the tactical display, thinking, then hailed the _Xerxes _and the _Caesar._

'Move up to support the _Enemy,_' she said to both captains. 'This fleet doesn't look to be carrying much in the way of serious hardware.'

They acknowledged and onscreen, two of the frigates seemed to glide away from the Phoenix and head straight towards the Marathon.

'Initial frigates now within weapon range of enemy fleet,' the navigation officer said. 'Destroyers _Diplomacy's Alternative _and _Reaper _entering primary weapons range in ten, nine, eight...'

He counted down all the way to zero, at which point a mass of blips erupted from both destroyers, Archer missiles, that sped towards the Innie fleet as the frigates did the same, launching salvos of their own before diving for the space above Vanhoover.

If the Insurrectionists were interested in the place, then so was the UNSC.

Salem could see a huge cloud was covering most of the area, completely blotting out any view of the land beneath, not that there would have been much of a view to begin with. The sun was on the opposite side of Faustia and everywhere the admiral looked was darkness.

The three frigates swooped in under the Innie fleet and fired off their complement of drop pods, each one containing a fully armed and armoured Spartan-IV, for a total of thirty-six pods that began their descent to the planet below.

Having offloaded their cargo, the frigates came about and assumed a defensive position between the Spartans and the Innie fleet, now suffering from a mass Archer missile attack.

Explosions ripped through most of the ships, in many cases causing the craft to explode further and break apart, upon which they were subject to the laws of physics and became victims of the harshest of mistresses known as gravity, her pull dragging them down to the planet's surface.

One of the destroyers performed a pass over Equestria as its point defence guns blasted away at a barrage of missiles launched at it and the frigates by the Innie fleet, managing to stave off most, and deployed its own contingent of Spartans via the HEVs it carried.

It increased power to the engines as a smattering of missiles impacted across its hull, throwing up fire and shrapnel, but kept going even as the blasts buffeted the eight-thousand ton ship.

'Get me a damage report,' Salem said.

'Moderate, admiral,' one officer said. 'The _Reaper _is reporting several hull breaches and one MAC gun out of action. They still have power and fire control, but they'll need to spend some time with the _To Boldly Go._'

'They'll have the first go,' Salem said as she watched the tactical display.

A fifth of the enemy fleet was destroyed with twice as many damaged to varying states.

'Time until we're in range?' Salem asked.

'Imminent, ma'am.'

'Good,' she said. 'Arm Archer missile pods A1 through A10, and coordinate fire with the destroyers and frigates. Let's show them what happens when they come up against the Witch and her Familiars.'

A few of the bridge crew cracked small smiles as they readied the ship for combat, coordinating which missiles from each ship would go where.

'Ma'am, what about the MAC?' the gunnery officer asked.

Salem scanned what remained of the Innie fleet.

Of those that had survived the initial barrage by the frigates and destroyers, the undamaged ships were bugging out and turning tail, pushing their engines as hard as they could go in a bid to make it to relative safety on the planet's surface, while the damaged ones and the few warships remained behind, a defensive line to keep the UNSC from attacking the fleeing ships.

'Target their biggest ship,' Salem said. 'Both barrels.'

The gunnery officer nodded and coordinated with the navigation officer to single out and target the biggest surviving Insurrectionist ship.

MACs were wholly unguided, a six-hundred ton lump of ferrous metal that got shot out of the barrel of a ship at upwards of thirty metres per second, meaning the ship firing it had to be pointed exactly at the intended target to ensure maximum accuracy.

He singled out the two biggest ships, one a freighter and one an old destroyer, the latter likely being the pride of the fleet.

But it was old, antiquated, and while smaller in both tonnage and size, losing it to a MAC strike from an even bigger ship would sever whatever confidence the Insurrectionists had at winning this battle.

The gunnery officer chose it as the MAC's target and locked in the firing solution.

'Weapons primed, targets picked,' he said, licking a bead of sweat from his lips. 'Awaiting final firing order, ma'am.'

Either side of the _Enemy, _the destroyers and frigates that made up this mini battlegroup armed their weapons, too, meaning no less than six MAC rounds would be tearing through the already mauled fleet, plus hundreds more Archer missiles.

The _Enemy _alone was firing ten pods that each contained sixty missiles, totalling six hundred Archers, more than enough to obliterate the opposing force by itself.

A show of force, maybe, but it was also partly payback for the Insurrectionists nuking Canterlot and raining destruction down on Ponyville as a show of force.

Salem paused for a very brief moment, watching as the Innie fleet continued its split into two groups, one undamaged and fleeing, and one damaged and staying, then gave the order.

'Fire,' she said, quietly.

The officer nodded and depressed the execute button, sending a signal to the other ships as well to start their attacks.

First to launch were the Archer missiles, streaking out of their tubes and leaving behind trails of exhaust that made it appear as though tendrils were snaking from each ship and heading straight for the Innie fleet.

They launched missiles of their own but it was a futile gesture.

The missiles sent out by Salem's ship outnumbered forty-five to one by themselves before taking into account those launched by the destroyers and frigates accompanying the _Enemy_, or the ones being launched by the frigates and destroyers that had deployed the Spartans.

In a word, it was overwhelming.

The sheet volume of missiles coming in from two different directions would overwhelm whatever defence systems were in place, and that was before the MAC strikes were taken into account.

All the bridge lights dimmed as power was rerouted to the twin guns that spanned most the of the ship's length, sending the two ferrous slugs speeding out of the barrels and leaving behind an almighty bang behind.

Onscreen, Wolf projected the approximate location of the MAC slugs fired from the cruiser and those of her accompanying destroyers and frigates.

It seemed like no time at all before they found their marks, smashing into four separate ships right as the Archer missiles did, tearing straight through the flimsy superstructures with ease.

The tactical map was momentarily a mass of lines and circles that indicated the path each missile had taken and a successful detonation, so many in fact that it totally obscured the few enemy ships from the display.

Several seconds passed before the radars onboard all the ships involved in the attack penetrated the mass of hot expanding gases and debris to get a clear view of what was left.

'Enemy ships totally destroyed, admiral,' the navigation officer said. 'But we lost track of the ones that fled. They were headed to the far side of the planet.'

'No matter,' Salem said. 'They'll just be offloading troops and holing up until they think it safe to try and escape. Send the _Shadow Boxer _after them, have Colbert keep an eye on them.' She powered up the ship intercom. 'All hands, secure from battle stations.'

'Yes, ma'am.'

The officer saluted and sent the order as the lighting returned to its normal white hue and the pressure doors were released.

Above the planet there was now a debris field that spread for kilometres in every direction, and already pieces were being dragged towards the planet below and burning up in the atmosphere.

Several ships had gone down too, their engines and reactors destroyed by missile attack, getting lost beneath the dense could cover in place over Equestria, and what few remained intact above it to be recognisable as ships started to descend.

Salem activated the communications system and spoke to the fleet.

'All ships, regroup. _To Boldly Go, _get into position above Equestria and get those boots on the ground. I expect the Spartans are going to need some help clearing Vanhoover, and the rest of the country. Everyone else, do the same. Offload your troops. Frigates_, _make landfall and provide support to ground teams.'

The ships responded and acknowledged the orders, quickly getting into position above Faustia.

Pelicans began streaming from the destroyers and her cruiser, each one carrying Marines and either a Warthog or a Scorpion, and the seven frigates made for the planet's surface, but not before taking on a few extra troops from the destroyers.

The _To Boldly Go _took up a geosynchronous orbit over Equestria's western coats, the massive Phoenix-class ship easily standing out amongst the smaller destroyers as the wounded _Reaper _came up alongside it, ready to receive repairs.

Salem nodded to herself at the outcome, losing no ships while inflicting almost total casualties on the enemy, but knew that was only the opening battle.

There were still the forces on the ground to contend with, and whatever reinforcements may appear from this moment on.

Though she couldn't speak for General McGarret and his Marines, Admiral Salem was confident in her ships and their ability to ward off any aggressors that might show up out of the black.

But until that happened, this fight was a ground operation.


	5. Chapter 5

**AN: ****I don't own My Little Pony or Halo. They belong to Hasbro and Bungie/Microsoft/343 Industries respectively.**

Chapter Five

**1829 HOURS, APRIL 22, 2553 (MILITARY CALENDAR/LOCAL TIME) \ SLIEPNIR SYSTEM, PLANET FAUSTIA \ SOMEWHERE ABOVE THE CITY OF VANHOOVER**

The cramped inside of the human entry vehicle bounced and rocked as it fell through the rapidly thickening atmosphere of Faustia, making Spartan Joe Jones grip the edge of his seat tightly.

Dropping into combat in this manner wasn't particularly high on his list of favoured methods, mainly because the drag chutes on a HEV were known to fail and send the whole thing plummeting to its occupant's doom, but until enemy air defences could be assessed, using Pelicans was out of the question.

An alternative JJ would have been happier with was performing a high altitude, low opening parachute jump from the back of a Pelican into Vanhoover, a method he was a master at due to his time as a pathfinder and airborne assault operative within the UNSC Army, jumping into enemy held territory ahead of engagements to scope out their position and designating landing and drop zones.

JJ had logged nearly fifteen hundred hours of HALO jumps, both simulated and combat, enough so to be offered a position as an instructor for fresh recruits, but he'd declined.

By comparison, he'd only logged forty minutes using the HEV, and that was a training drop to give him a feel for it upon his successful induction into the Spartan-IV program.

Between the shaking, rocking, high heat as the pod burned up during re-entry, and the huge impact upon touching down, the newly minted Spartan had instantly ranked the method low on his list.

More tremors roiled through the frame and JJ wondered if that was normal or not.

He gripped the edge of his seat and took a deep breath, letting it back out slowly as the pod entered the upper layers of a dense cloud covering the city from orbiting eyes. Or, those that lacked penetrating radar.

On JJ's HUD was a more or less faithful replication of Vanhoover's street plan, accurate to around one metre he had been told during the abbreviated briefing.

It was a rush job because the Witch wanted to get boots on ground quickly, and because the frigates and destroyers they were launching in were performing an attack run as well.

The briefing amounted to being told there was a UNSC presence in the city, somewhere, and that if it wasn't a Spartan or a pony they saw down there, it was hostile. Maps were uploaded to armours, weapons were loaded into pods, and Spartans were blasted into combat.

JJ wondered how his launch ship, the _Aegis Fate_, was faring against the Innie ships, but focused back on the matter at hand when the flaming wreck of a ship blasted past the front of his pod with what felt like scant metres to spare.

Turbulence shook the pod and JJ along with it, making his grasp on the seat's edge tighten and push the HEV firmly to the bottom of his list, right below insertion by boat.

He swore, long and loudly, as more orange flashes lit up the clouds, turning it from a darkened mass of condensed water to a hellish, unearthly fog.

'Christ,' he muttered as two more ships came down in front of him. 'Never complain about doing a HALO over Covie territory ever again. Never complain about doing a HALO over Covie territory ever again.'

Jumping into Covenant controlled areas was usually a nerve wracking experience given the alien's use of pinpoint lasers to defeat incoming missiles and single ships. A soldier flying through the air might be picked up and classified as a threat, and then be subject to laser fire.

But this, launching from a ship in combat and burning up in the atmosphere, and then risking being splattered on the front of a falling ship like a bug on a windscreen, made it seen incredible safe.

For starters, he wasn't coming in at re-entry speeds.

The clouds came to an end a few seconds later, revealing a darkened city that was on fire in a few places, the unlucky recipients of the ships that had almost wiped out JJ's pod, and in another part was a huge, luminous holographic replication of the UNSC's logo floating above an apartment complex under fire from numerous forces.

'_Anyone else seeing that?' _Peterson, one of JJ's squad mates, said as the logo continued to glow and rotate.

'_Sure do,' _Eddy replied. '_Think the Chief's in there?'_

'_Probably,' _Josh said.

'Agreed,' JJ said. 'All right, adjust trajectory to come down as close to it as possible. It's either the Chief, or a trap of some kind. Either way, we're going in.'

Green acknowledgement lights winked back at JJ, his teammates confirming the order.

Together, the four of them made up Fireteam Pegasus, one of several dozen teams that made up the Spartan-IV program, who specialised in aerial insertion and pathfinder operations, and before that all four had provided much the same service for the UNSC Army, up to and including the Battle of Earth.

Each of them had at least four years combat experience, not including time spent in cryo, and gone up against both the Covenant and the Insurrection multiple times, and very recently added a new, horrifying foe to their list: the Flood.

During the tail end of the Battle of Earth, the Covenant had uncovered some ancient alien artefact buried beneath the plains of Africa that was somehow tied to a galaxy spanning super weapon, prompting the UNSC to launch a low level airstrike against it.

A contingent of Marines led by the Spartan-II known as the Master Chief had been dispatched to one avenue of approach by Lord Hood, and a similar sized number of Army troopers with their own Spartan, this one going by the callsign B101, were dispatched on another so as to maximise the chances of breaking through and disabling the guns.

Though the army troopers had failed to reach the gun, entrenched enemies and difficult terrain slowing them down, the whole endeavour proved to be futile as the Longswords and frigates didn't manage to stop the Covenant from opening a huge portal above Voi that sent all nearby UNSC forces into disarray.

Before they could even begin to regroup, a lone Covenant ship crash landed in the town and released the Flood, an alien parasite that devoured every living thing.

It swept over the ruins of Voi and its dockyards, consuming all flesh, alive or dead, at a frightening pace that made it seem impossible that containment would work.

The officers in charge of the army troops had frozen, and were then consumed, prompting B101 to step in and organise a retreat into more defendable territory, at which point the difficult terrain and reinforced Covenant positions became lifesavers as they enabled the three companies of army regulars to force the Flood into chokepoints and let them scavenge weapons from the alien corpses.

Despite the terrain and the help of a Spartan in full MJOLNIR, most of the troopers sent out to help clear the lane for Lord Hood's ships were killed ad consumed, with only JJ and a few others surviving long enough for reinforcements to get on scene.

Of those few that survived, only JJ and Pegasus' current roster came through intact enough for immediate redeployment, and would have shipped out with a Marine detachment that was heading through the massive portal that dominated the skyline if an ONI spook by the name of Johnson hadn't stepped in and offered them all a place in the S-IV program.

His reasoning behind the offer was because they had survived the Flood while everyone else died, and that the program needed experienced pathfinders and air assault members.

So JJ, Eddy, Peterson, and Josh all agreed and were put into the same squad despite having never worked together before.

This was their first combat assignment with one another since recovering from the painful augmentation procedures and armour training, a sort of christening that would be blessed with the blood of dissidents and aliens.

The four Spartans, and everyone else who saw the UNSC logo, adjusted the trajectory of their pods towards the apartment building and the battle raging around it, but the three frigates and one destroyer had been deploying the HEVs on a fast run without accurate targeting data, so the drop zone was a little more spread out than usual.

_Another reason why I prefer HALOs,_ JJ thought to himself.

In the drop pods, the speed was too fast to make any meaningful course corrections on the fly, whereas jumping in with just a parachute gave a soldier that bit more time to assess and evaluate, to angle towards a more suitable landing zone.

He glanced at the display on his pod's door, the little screen showing a rough outline of where each Spartan was over Vanhoover, and winced when he saw more than forty of the pods would touch down more than a mile away from the building, meaning they'd have to traverse streets likely crawling with hostiles and rubble.

JJ himself and Peterson would touch down almost on top of the building with Eddy and Josh landing not too far away.

'Okay, once we make landfall, form up on me,' JJ said over the COM. 'We'll cover the eastern side and hold until everyone else gets their asses on site. Hooah?'

'_Hooah,' _came Pegasus' reply.

His plan roughed out and outlined, JJ braced as best he could for the inevitable and uncomfortable landing that was due any second when the drop pod finished its descent, grabbing his DMR so he could jump out of the pod and start fighting as soon as.

The chute deployed first, snapping JJ's head forward at the sharp deceleration, and again when the braking rockets came on briefly, but the biggest jolt came when the whole thing slammed into the ground.

Even with reinforced bones and a cushioning layer of hydrostatic gel, the impact still hurt and JJ shook his head to clear it as the door beeped once to signal it was primed, giving him a scant second to prepare before it was blasted clear by the explosive bolts, and JJ was launched into the fight.

**1845 HOURS, APRIL 22, 2553 (MILITARY CALENDAR/LOCAL TIME) \ SLIEPNIR SYSTEM, PLANET FAUSTIA \ CITY OF VANHOOVER, RESIDENTIAL DISTRICT**

Given that this was his second time using an HEV, and his first using it to go into battle, the new Spartan reacted well, drawing his DMR when someone somewhere opened fire, making his armour's shields flare in response, returning the favour as he scrabbled sideways into some cover.

JJ dropped to one knee beside a lump of masonry that had fallen from the building behind him, rifle tucked firmly against his shoulder, activating a waypoint on his position that would lead the rest of Pegasus to him, and another that would appear on the HUDs of every Spartan planetside and tell them that this was a UNSC position.

'Pegasus, on me!' he radioed over their private COM channel. 'I got hostiles pressing in from every direction.'

Three green acknowledgement lights winked on and soon, Peterson emerged from a side street, firing his assault rifle at some unseen target.

Whoever it was he was shooting returned fire, earning a grenade back.

It detonated and blew out chunks of brick and wood and body parts, and the Spartan jogged to JJ's position, slipping into cover next to him, assault rifle up and firing in controlled bursts.

Insurrectionist forces returned fire, alongside some creature made up of several different beasts, mainly an eagle and a lion from what JJ could see, that held old assault rifles awkwardly in their front claws, but their will to fight had waned with the appearance of two Spartans, plus the knowledge that more were on the way, and seeing ships of theirs coming flying in from above on fire would certainly be detrimental to their morale.

Josh and Eddy joined JJ and Peterson, establishing a solid presence on the building's eastern side behind rubble that had fallen to the street.

Above and behind them, the inhabitants of the building were firing rifles of their own, tossing grenades too, and once JJ caught a glimpse of something in grey armour, a Spartan.

Across from them was a downed Pelican, half in and half out of a storefront, its cockpit window smashed and the nose crumpled.

'Anyone want to hazard a guess as to how that happened?' Eddy asked, jerking his head towards the dropship. 'Cause I can't see any rocket damage.'

'Pilot probably got killed,' Peterson said, sending a series of controlled bursts from his rifle into a collection of the beasts, scattering them.

Josh followed up with a grenade and took two down for good, and another three tentatively.

They staggered following the explosion, bodies marred by shrapnel, and began retreating from the battlefield as more Spartans arrived and set up their own defences.

Most of the fireteams had orders to link up with whatever local forces were in the area, while a select few were tasked with the job of scouring for any anti-air defences that might be deployed that could ruin a Pelican's day and removing them from the picture completely.

Soon, teams had established a preliminary perimeter around the base of the apartment building and began pushing the hostiles away, clearing each of the houses and stores that lined it, while word came in from the search and destroy teams that no AA emplacements were found, which was then relayed via SATCOM to the orbiting fleet that the air over Vanhoover was clear.

The Spartans on defence continued firing, as did the ponies in the building they were protecting, stopping only when the first of many Pelicans came in to land, their jets throwing out huge gusts of wind that swept away whatever litter was present on the street.

'All right, cease fire,' JJ said as a dozen Marines streamed out of the nearest dropship, dispersing into squads and heading for the nearby buildings. 'The jarheads are here.'

Another Pelican swooped in, dropping a Scorpion main battle tank onto the cobble stone streets of Vanhoover, then offloaded more Marines, followed by a third that contained medical corpsmen.

The soldiers formed up into their formations then went off to whatever areas they had been designated as the tank took up a defensive posture on the building's corner, its ninety millimetre turret tracking one way and then the other.

JJ's team formed up on him, weapons held loosely across their chests as more UNSC troops arrived.

A Marine officer spotted the four of them and waved to get their attention, and then pointed at the building behind them as if to say, check it out.

The four Spartans nodded and turned around, spotting a once grand set of doors that now lay flat on the floor, thrown there by an explosion of some kind, and an equally battered but grand lobby that contained a reception desk and a flight of stairs.

'Keep 'em peeled,' JJ said as he began to lead Pegasus inside, stopping once he saw an armoured figure descending the stairs.

They were a Spartan, no doubt about it given their height and the Mark V MJOLNIR armour they were wearing, but covered in burns and blood, a far cry from the pristine condition of the armour JJ and his team was wearing, and much more customised, too.

He saw a RECON helmet, two different models of up-armoured shoulder attachments, a multitude of pouched adorning the chest, and a trauma kit attached to their left leg, everything finished in matte grey with a black, cracked visor.

Blood and hydrostatic fluid trailed from a number of small rends in the outer plating, now partly dried.

In comparison, JJ's armour was intact, as was his team's, made of uniform components, and the very latest model of MJOLNIR armour, whereas the Mark V was obsolete, and had been since October of last year when the Mark VI entered service.

But even the Mark VI had been replaced with the next generation of MJOLNIR armour, dubbed GEN2, that every Spartan-IV wore.

The Spartan stood before JJ had have been out of the world for a long while to still be wearing the Mark V, but even so they were probably deadlier than JJ and his team could ever hope to be.

Their briefing had told them the Spartan they were looking for was a Spartan-III, one of the few remaining graduates of the previous supersoldier program, who had been on active duty since 2537, totally eclipsing JJ's experience, and that of his team.

He approached the lone Spartan with a hint of awe and admiration, hand held out for her to shake.

'Hey, Chief,' JJ said. 'Nice to meet you.'

The Chief looked around cautiously first before grasping his offered appendage and asking, 'Who are you?'

'Spartan Joe Jones,' he said. 'But you can call me JJ. I'm with Fireteam Pegasus, squad leader. We're your backup. Sorry it took so long but HIGHCOM had to scrape together a big enough fleet to come help out. Things have been a bit hectic back home.'

'You're not a Spartan-III,' the Chief said as though it were a statement, not a question. 'Or a Spartan-II. You fight like Army.'

JJ's head jerked back in mild surprise, taken aback by how accurately the Chief had guessed at his training, and nodded.

'I'm a Spartan-IV,' he said. 'The follow up wave. We're picked from all branches the UNSC had to offer. Not quite on par with you guys of the –IIs, but, we're the best they have to offer.'

'How many of you are there?' the Chief asked.

'In total or deployed with the battlegroup?' JJ asked back as he gestured at his team and the other nearby MJOLNIR clad soldiers.

'Both.'

'A hundred, maybe two?' JJ said after a moment to think. 'ONI's trying to swell our ranks after losing most of the Spartan-IIs and –IIIs. They sent most of us here. It's kind of like our first major deployment as a unit.'

The Chief nodded again as a medic appeared, drawn by the appalling state of her armour, and JJ led Pegasus away from the area as gunfire started up further into Vanhoover, Marine and Spartan forces spreading out to secure more of the city.

Once a ground presence was established and an initial headquarters set up, General McGarret would descend from his ship to oversee the liberation of Vanhoover, and then the efforts to secure the rest of Equestria.

Already a squad of engineers were scouring several potential buildings that were both big enough and intact enough to house all the officers and equipment needed to coordinate an entire division of Marines and 150 Spartan-IVs, plus all the support equipment they had.

Until then, command of the ground forces fell to the highest ranked Marine on the ground, a lieutenant colonel in charge of the battalion currently working to liberate Vanhoover, setting up shop in front of a former botany shop.

She and a team of four other officers, plus one Spartan, were pouring over maps of the city and issuing commands into headsets that were connected to each of the six company commanders spread across the city.

The Spartan standing beside them all was their liaison, dispatching each fireteam as and where needed, and sure enough they eventually issued orders to Fireteam Pegasus, relocating them to the northern edge of the city.

They acknowledged the order and after stocking up on ammo, joined up with a platoon of Marines that were heading that way too, a Scorpion tank rumbling its way down the street in the midst of them all.

'All right, Pegasus,' JJ said. 'Let's get to it.'


End file.
